


Coherence in the Age of Secret Identities

by hanwritesstuff (hannahkannao)



Series: MitAoSIverse [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Multi, fluff and angst but mostly fluff, where's the plot lol don't ask me i don't know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 01:58:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 47,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5229527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannahkannao/pseuds/hanwritesstuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>You can fly as high as you want to, I'll be there to catch you if you fall.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>In which Tsukishima Kei falls asleep in a limo, runs faster than he's ever run before, remembers just how adorable he was at age twelve, finds out his time at the top is limited, and realizes he might be okay with that.</p><p>The sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/4237875">Metamorphosis in the Age of Secret Identities</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [Muahahahaaaaa](https://youtu.be/vsQRpwifvJE?t=143) guess who's back from the depths of Tsukkiyama hell that's right me and I'm not really back I'm just further deep in it than I've ever been I mean have you _seen_ the episode 8 preview? 
> 
> Anyway I'm back with more Miatosi-verse, ooooooo. Don't worry, there's going to be a plot later, it's just fluffy at the moment. Because I need fluff at a time like this am I right??
> 
> Also pleeease read mitaosi first, because this won't make any sense without it.

If Tsukishima Kei had a dollar for every time his life felt like a stupid, cheesy action movie, he’d be filthy rich by now.

He shivered, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his hoodie as he walked through the crowded street. It hadn’t been that crowded before; he assumed that more people had shown up just because he did. And not just people, either. There were cameras everywhere. He’d never been camera-shy, he just couldn’t care less. If there was a camera on him, he wouldn’t act any different than if there wasn’t. It could be referred to as confidence, but he personally preferred the term “nonchalance”.

When you thought of typical superhero outfits, you probably thought of brightly colored spandex bodysuits with some sort of weird symbol on the front, not a black hoodie and sweatpants with a simple red party-supply-store mask, but that was what he had decided to wear. It wasn’t much, but it was comfortable and it didn’t look stupid, which were pretty much all the things he cared about in an outfit.

As fate would have it, the night before the first real day of summer vacation wasn't spent playing Super Smash Brothers until midnight, like last summer, or driving for half an hour to the next town over just for ridiculously good ice cream, like the summer before that. Rather, it was spent on the job, colloquially known as the "part-time job from hell". Missions like this didn't come up often, but when they did, they were the most physically taxing thing that Tsukishima could spend his time doing. He constantly had to remind himself to be thankful that one, missions almost always happened when there wasn't school the next day, and two, he didn't have to do this alone.

Next to him, Yamaguchi sucked in a breath, staring straight ahead at whatever monster-of-the-week the two of them were going up against this time around. Well, it wasn’t a monster of the week, per se. It was a monster of the every other week, literally speaking.

The person standing down the street from them was a woman, who didn’t look older than twenty-five. Thankfully, she was the person here with the stupid outfit, which looked to be just a cowgirl costume, nothing more, like something out of a dumb kids’ cartoon. There was a white cowboy hat on her head, brown cowboy boots on her feet, and she was wearing her hair in two braids. Her skirt twirled as she turned around to face them.

“Well, well, well!” She put her hands on her hips and grinned. “Look who showed up to this hoedown!”

“If you think that we’re the type to go along with your stupid Wild West motifs, you’re just plain wrong,” Tsukishima grumbled to himself.

Yamaguchi laughed. “Come on, Tsukki, just go with it!”

“You can do that.” Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “Just don’t bring me into it.”

They stopped the momentary conversation when the cowgirl pulled a unfittingly modern-looking ray gun out of each holster situated on her hips, pointing the pair of guns at them. They were both jet black, with hot pink streaks running down the sides. She narrowed her eyes and pointed the barrels right at their eyes.

“These babies run on energy.” She stretched out the last syllable of “energy” to a particularly annoying length. “Energy in...” She put her fingers on the triggers. “Energy out.”

Tsukishima stood there for a second, frozen as he tried to think of what exactly she was talking about, before he was shoved to the ground just as two rays of hot pink light shot out past him. When he looked up again, he was on his stomach, directly across the street from Yamaguchi, whose eyes were wide as he looked down at the streaks of light that were disintegrating behind him.

“What the hell are those things?” Tsukishima hissed.

“I don’t know!” Yamaguchi whispered back.

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes as the cowgirl laughed from in front of him, trying to get something out of the weird ray guns that she was still holding up. “And what does she mean by energy?”

“I’m not sure,” Yamaguchi said, “And there isn’t really a good way to find out.”

Tsukishima nodded slowly, looking around at all the people who were standing at the scene. There were probably at least a thousand more watching this on TV. “I have an idea. It’s not necessarily a good one, but it’s something.”

“Okay.”

“I act as a distraction and try to see what those gun things are while you go around from behind and try to find some way to stop this,” Tsukishima said.

“All right.” Yamaguchi nodded.

After that, the two of them split up, with Yamaguchi leaving the fight itself and taking a detour back behind the crowd while Tsukishima stood up and made his way to the middle of the street, putting his hands back in his pockets. For the middle of July, the evenings were surprisingly cold, and taking advantage of the hoodie was mostly practicality.

“Oh?” The cowgirl looked up from her pair of guns. “Where’s your partner?”

“Nowhere you need to concern yourself with.” Tsukishima smirked.

“Well, then I guess it’s just you and me, buckaroo.” The cowgirl grinned, eagerly shooting the guns again right in Tsukishima’s direction. With barely a moment to spare, he hit the ground, ducking only a hair under the two rays of light that shot through the air.

Did ray guns have an equivalent to running out of bullets?

“Well, you’re a feisty one, eh?” The cowgirl cocked one of the guns again with a scowl. “I can’t seem to flippin’ hit you!”

She shot the gun, and Tsukishima saw the ray coming, easily turning around to avoid it as it brushed past his ear. He could practically feel the heat emanating from it, and while it was a close one, he didn’t get hit.

He only realized his error when he was already facing away from her. For these few seconds, he was vulnerable, but she had already fired a shot, so it probably wouldn’t happen.

And that was when he remembered that she had another gun.

In the span of maybe three seconds, he heard her cock the second gun, and the sound of the ray of light shooting out from it when she pulled the trigger happened right as he turned around. The ray came faster than he anticipated and he was hit right in the middle of his chest.

He felt like he’d been stabbed. Not like he knew what being stabbed felt like, since that stood as one of the only things that hadn’t happened to him at this point in his life, but if he did, he figured it would feel pretty much exactly like this.

Thankfully, he hadn’t actually been stabbed. He’d just been hit in the chest with a ray of energy or something that had completely knocked the wind out of him. His shoulders slumped forward as he fell to his knees, the feeling eerily similar to when he’d temporarily lost his powers last month. This kind of thing happened a lot: he’d forget a small but crucial detail, only for it to bite him right in the ass a short time later.

Such was the life of a teenage superhero, he supposed.

There was a cackle behind him that belonged to the cowgirl villain, who stuffed her ray gun into the holster on her hip with a dramatic spin. The bell-shaped earrings dangling from her ears jingled as she laughed and the corners of her mouth upturned into a sinister grin.

“Aw, would you look at that?” She frowned, even though by the narrowing of her eyes, it was obvious it was fake. “Looks like all that energy’s been zapped away!”

So that was what she meant by “energy”.

Despite being down on his knees and trying as hard as he could not to pass out, Tsukishima still found the strength somewhere inside himself to scowl. That wasn’t even how energy worked. He hadn’t spent an hour in science class last week almost falling asleep at his teacher’s lecture that energy couldn’t be created or destroyed just for someone to get it wrong now. It was stupid. And annoying.

Just as he was about to lay back and let his eyes close, he felt himself being lifted up the ground and being practically shot through the air, momentarily shocked at the lack of solid ground beneath his feet. After he had been floating for a few seconds, he dropped abruptly on the other side of the street where the fight was taking place, landing in a tangle of limbs that he thought was the opposite of typical for him. After the impact, he possibly felt even more shitty than he did before, and he wanted nothing more than to sleep for at least two days.

“Hey, Tsukki, are you okay?” Barely a second went by before Yamaguchi’s wide eyes filled almost the entirety of Tsukishima’s field of vision. “I didn’t mean to drop you, I just needed to get you out of there and I wasn’t paying attention to anything really and I’m really sorry and -”

“It’s fine,” Tsukishima said, laying out on his back like he wanted to melt into the ground, which, for all intents and purposes, he probably did. “Stop talking so fast, it’s giving me a headache.”

“Sorry, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi laughed to himself before he turned around for a quick second and his voice got infinitely quieter. “I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know what to do?” Tsukishima asked, “We’ve been doing this for four months now, you definitely know what to do.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Yamaguchi sighed. “I don’t know how I’m going to end this.”

“It’s not that hard,” Tsukishima said, “By now, you know her trump card, and there’s not that much left to do.” He smirked. “Besides, it's not like you have much of a choice."

Yamaguchi sucked in a breath. "Okay, fine. I'll try."

There was a thump, presumably from Yamaguchi hopping back up to his feet, before he started running back into the fight itself.

A few moments later, amid the sounds of yelling, laughing, gunshots, and the anxious buzz of conversation from bystanders on the scene, Tsukishima closed his eyes, letting the exhaustion take him over.

* * *

 

The next morning - or maybe afternoon, you couldn't really tell in the summer - Tsukishima woke up to the sound of typing and muffled classical music probably playing from a radio somewhere. But when he opened his eyes, he didn't quite know where he was for the first few seconds. He was lying on what felt like the floor, although it was covered in an off-white carpet, and he was under a thin, dark blue blanket with his head resting on a white pillow.

He felt much better now than he did last night, but he still felt horrible. His entire body was sore, and he felt particularly lightheaded. He guessed that those were just the side effects of being shot, which was essentially what happened, even though it wasn't a real gun with actual bullets that he'd been shot with. Even though the whole energy concept from last night made no logical sense, it still packed quite a punch.

Something about all of this felt off, even though it shouldn't have. It was a Monday morning, sure, but as of now, it was also summer vacation. As far as he was concerned, he didn't have any obligations other than sleeping all of this off. But he felt like he should have been doing something right now that he clearly wasn't.

As he slowly sat up, he found that the typing sound was coming from Yamaguchi, who was typing on a laptop across the room, which probably meant that he was somewhere on the floor of Yamaguchi's bedroom. He was staring at the screen, with his eyes slightly narrowed and a tiny smile on his face. When he lifted his eyes from the screen, he jumped once he saw that Tsukishima was looking at him, before he started laughing.

"Oh, you're up!" Yamaguchi looked back down at the screen and frowned. " "Are you okay? That was really freaky last night."

"I'm fine," Tsukishima said, "I still feel like crap, but I'm fine."

"That's good."

Tsukishima stretched his arms up above his head, before he realized what exactly felt so wrong about this. "Wait, shouldn't we be at practice right now?"

"Daichi-san texted me last night and he said we didn't have to go today if we didn't want to."

"It doesn't seem like him to let us off the hook the day before training camp."

"He said he saw everything from last night on TV, and it was Suga-san who was really freaking out." Yamaguchi chuckled. "It seems like everyone was worried about what happened to you except you, Tsukki!"

"Oh." Tsukishima frowned, looking out the window at the light blue, cloudless sky. "What time is it?"

"It's about 12:30," Yamaguchi said.

"Okay," Tsukishima said, "What happened last night anyway? I assume you finished everything."

"Yeah." Yamaguchi gave a sheepish grin as he scratched the back of his head. "I think it went pretty well. You were right, there wasn't a lot left to do." He laughed. "The hardest part was probably carrying you home after that! You're really heavy when you're unconscious!”

“Well, I didn't feel a thing, so you did fine.”

“Oh, good.” Yamaguchi looked back down at the screen of the laptop. “Okay, I have to show you this.”

“Show me what?” Tsukishima asked, leaning over so he could see behind the laptop. The screen was opened to a web page, focusing on some news article. He sighed when he realized exactly what it was. “Yamaguchi, why do you keep reading these? You never get anything good out of them. It’s probably just the same as always, just a lack of information and unreasonably high levels of criticism.”

“Okay, I know you hate reviews with a passion, but this one’s different.” Yamaguchi smiled. “It’s really good.”

“Define ‘good’.”

Yamaguchi paused for a second before he started reading the article. "'Until last night, the people of Miyagi Prefecture knew Midori not as the color green, but as one of the members of the prefecture's local superhero team, and, unfortunately, the rather underwhelming one.'"

"I don't know, this seems pretty same-y to me." It was a few seconds before Tsukishima realized what exactly the point was that Yamaguchi was trying to make, at which he looked up at him with wide eyes. "What do they mean, 'until last night'?"

Yamaguchi only grinned before he started reading again. "'After four months of almost-there's and not-really-there-at-all's, the Miyagi Duo's Midori seems to have finally hit his stride with an incredible performance last night, completely outshining that of his more traditionally noticeable teammate, Aka. After a particularly hard-hitting villain of some sort that rendered Aka unable to fight, Midori stepped in without hesitation and expertly finished the job himself, while simultaneously showing that his potential is nothing to scoff at. This is especially impactful considering the numerous articles published after each of the Duo's missions that usually happen every two weeks, most of them harshly criticizing Midori's relative lack of firepower and exposure, and last night proved that he is definitely more than meets the eye.'"

Once he finished reading, Yamaguchi leaned back onto the floor and sighed. "I wasn't expecting this to happen."

Tsukishima smirked. "I was."

Yamaguchi giggled. "Of course you were!"

They both fell silent for a few seconds after that, as Yamaguchi read the article to himself again, mouthing the words as he read them. The smile on his face only grew wider, until it started to fade as he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. When he breathed out, there was a solitary tear running down his cheek as he started to smile again.

"Hey, are you -?" Tsukishima was interrupted when Yamaguchi leaned over and hugged him tightly. It was initially suffocating, but after a few seconds, Tsukishima didn't really mind all that much. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Yamaguchi laughed. "I'm better than okay, I can't believe this is happening! I've only wanted this to happen since we started all this, and I thought it would take years before reviews were even mediocre, but -"

"I know," Tsukishima said, "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Yamaguchi beamed. "Didn't you say at some point that you knew reviews would get better?"

"...Yeah." That had been back in June, up on that hotel rooftop after that press conference when everything seemed to be going wrong. It had been sappy and way too sudden, sure, but considering that within three minutes they were making out while simultaneously hovering in the air just above the rooftop, it wasn't even close to the mushiest thing that had happened that night.

Just remembering anything about that night made Tsukishima blush uncontrollably.

"Well, you called it!" Yamaguchi smiled again. "How did you know?"

"I'm not sure." Tsukishima shrugged. "I just did."

"Oh." Yamaguchi took a breath before he started again. "Do you think this should have happened? Like, reviews are never this good, maybe it was just a fluke."

"What?"  Tsukishima's eyes widened. "Of course it should have happened."

The only response that Yamaguchi gave was hugging him even tighter, resting his head on Tsukishima's shoulder. It was impossible to tell if the tears currently falling onto it were from happiness, sadness, or something else entirely, but either way, it was a complete waterworks at this point.

And for a minute or so, neither of them said a word, or even really moved at all. They didn't need to. It was like they had developed some weird kind of telepathic communication and they didn't need words to say what they were thinking, even though that wasn't really the case.

All in all, it felt pretty nice.

* * *

 

The next morning, after a day of rest and not much else, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi rejoined the rest of the Karasuno volleyball team as they got on the bus to the Tokyo training camp.

Needless to say, the two of them got quite a bit of attention on the way.

“Yamaguchi-kun!”

Yachi could barely hold onto all of her bags as she raced down the street, catching the two of them just before they got on the bus. Once she was standing in front of them, she stopped for a second and grinned before she dropped her bags and hugged Yamaguchi's stomach, since she was too short to reach much higher.

"That was really cool Sunday night." She smiled up at him. "I saw it on TV! You're really good at this."

"Oh!" Yamaguchi chuckled nervously. "Thanks, Yachi-san!"

"You're welcome!" Yachi let go and leaned down to pick up her bags again, eyes widening as they landed on Tsukishima. "I'm not saying you weren't cool, too, I just -"

"I didn't exactly do much." Tsukishima shrugged. "I made a stupid decision early on."

Yachi frowned before she hugged him as well, presumably as tight as she was hugging Yamaguchi earlier. "You have to be more careful! I was really worried about you, you know!"

"Well, I'm fine now. There's nothing to worry about."

"Yes, there is!" Yachi pouted as she got onto the bus, taking a seat in the front row. "You could have died!" She sighed, taking her phone out of her pocket. "You two! Always throwing caution to the wind like that!"

"S-sorry, Yachi-san!" Yamaguchi gave a sheepish grin.

Yachi's phone played a quiet ding, at the same time her eyes lit up. "Oh, I got an email!" She tapped the screen a few times. "I'll forward this to you, I think you guys are going to like it!"

Since Yachi had joined the team after that whole fiasco in June, she’d found out her teammates’ secret identities in a slightly different way from everyone else. around the beginning of July, some monster was attacking a train station where she happened to be at the time, and she'd been the damsel in distress, as it were. When Yamaguchi had swooped in and gotten her out, she’d easily recognized him under the mask, screamed so suddenly that Yamaguchi had almost dropped her, and had probably been internally screaming ever since. She, like practically every other teenage girl in the prefecture, was a huge fan, and she was absolutely ecstatic when she found out that the two people that she looked up to the most at the moment were in a class directly next door to hers at school.

Since then, she’d volunteered to help the two of them out in any way that she could, something that they were both immensely grateful for. While the job was interesting and even fun at times, it was incredibly stressful for the two of them to manage on their own. And so, at this point, she’d taken over as their agent-slash-manager, answering emails, taking phone calls, scheduling interviews, and being the person to brief them on jobs whenever they came up, eventually replacing the person who did it before. For some reason, even though she was always freaking out whenever she called them, she somehow made everything less stressful.

“Thanks, Yachi-san!” Yamaguchi grinned before he took a seat in the fourth row, taking out his phone as soon as he sat down. A familiar ding came from the phone's speaker just as his eyes widened.

"What is it?" Tsukishima asked, sitting down in the seat next to him.

"It's just the schedule for the week." Yamaguchi scrolled through the email. "It looks pretty fun."

While they were in Tokyo, they were scheduled to have a check-in at the headquarters of this whole superhero program thing. It didn't seem like much, but within the check-in was a tech upgrade, a possible uniform change, and the meeting itself, among other things. Not to mention various publicity stunts, like magazine photoshoots and morning talk show appearances, and, if they were lucky, getting to meet Team Tokyo themselves.

While they were definitely busy over the course of the week, it came with one particularly nice benefit: an actual break. Somehow, they'd negotiated with another duo from somewhere nearby to take over for this week, which probably wasn't hard, considering that not a lot was expected to happen. But that was probably the best thing about this trip: a week when there weren't any jobs to worry about, and when they could finally relax for once.

"Hey, Yamaguchi!"

Tsukishima was slightly startled as a balled-up fist reached across his field of vision, barely an inch or two in front of his face, and fist-bumped Yamaguchi in the seat next to him.

"Congrats!" Noya gave a thumbs-up with his other hand and grinned. Of course it had to be him.

"Oh!" Yamaguchi laughed. "Thanks!"

"No problem!" Noya chuckled. "That should have happened a long time ago, if you ask me."

He waved, walking to the back row to sit down next to Tanaka.

"Hey, guys!" Suga was next to get on, taking a seat next to Daichi in the row in front of Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. "I saw what happened Sunday night on TV. That was really cool."

"Thanks, Suga-san!" Yamaguchi smiled.

"You're welcome!" He smiled back before he looked at Tsukishima and frowned. "But you really have to be careful! I was really worried when you got hit. I thought it was going to be last month all over again."

Back last month, when the whole de-powering incident took place, Suga was the first to find out about it, as well as the first to find out about their secret identities in the first place, and he'd come at just the right time to see Tsukishima out cold on the ground. Needless to say, he'd freaked out then, and he had clearly freaked out on Sunday, too.

"Sorry, Suga-san." Yamaguchi chuckled nervously.

"It's okay, just -" Suga sighed. "Try not to scare everyone next time, okay?"

Both Tsukishima and Yamaguchi nodded as Suga turned around to face the front before he whipped his head around again. "Oh! One more thing!"

He stopped for a second before he looked at Yamaguchi and grinned. "I saw the reviews yesterday, too. They were better than I've ever seen them. Congratulations!"

"Thanks!" Yamaguchi was smiling again.

Suga gave a quick thumbs-up before he turned around again and started talking to Daichi about something.

As the next few minutes, everyone else who got on congratulated Yamaguchi in some way. There were a lot of high fives, a few fist bumps, and everyone was in a particularly good mood.

Tsukishima didn't think he'd seen Yamaguchi this happy after reviews came out in the entire time they'd been doing this.

"Hey, Tsukki?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Yeah?"

"I never really got to say it yesterday, so…" Yamaguchi smiled. "Thanks."

"For what?" Tsukishima's eyes narrowed.

"You've just always been there, I guess." Yamaguchi shrugged with a giggle. "This is going to sound really cheesy, but you probably started believing in me before I did."

"Oh." There was probably a slightly-more-than-light dusting of red on Tsukishima's cheeks at the moment. "No problem." He paused for a second before he smirked. "And yes, that was really cheesy."

If it wasn't obvious before, over the past month or so, practically everything had gotten easier. Not only had the job process become more routine, it had even become a bit more fun. Not to mention that over the past four months, the two of them had gotten to know each other better than they already had over the past four years or so.

Neither of them were complaining.

"So apparently, everything starts tomorrow and goes off and on until the day before we leave." Yamaguchi started looking through the email again. "It doesn't look like much more than an hour or two every day, so we can spend most of the time practicing with everyone else."

"What's happening tomorrow?" Tsukishima asked.

"Nothing too big." A smile started to appear on Yamaguchi's face. "Just getting new uniforms and..." He paused, eyes wide. "Ooh, we're meeting Team Tokyo's agents tomorrow, too! They're the people doing the check-in."

"Agents?" Tsukishima asked as he took out his phone. "As in plural?"

"Yeah," Yamaguchi said, "According to the email, they have two. Although it says here that one of them is mostly just there for moral support and doesn't really do much."

"Who says that in an email?"

"This guy, apparently. Yachi-san's talked to him a few times, she said he's pretty cool." Yamaguchi shrugged, looking back down at the screen. "The day after tomorrow is technology upgrades and if it works out, breakfast with Team Tokyo!"

"They'll probably be on a job or something," Tsukishima said, "I've heard they're always busy."

"Yeah, but maybe not," Yamaguchi said, "Who knows, they might be really nice people."

"So what's the rest of the week going to be like?"

"All the talk show appearances and helping Team Tokyo with jobs and stuff if our schedules line up." Yamaguchi turned off the phone and put it down on his lap. "I don't know, I think I'm going to like this."

"Yeah, maybe." Tsukishima took his headphones out of his bag and plugged them into his phone as the bus pulled out.

In hindsight, they both would have been saved a lot of surprise later if they'd just skimmed it slightly slower and took a second to look at the name at the bottom of the email.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was this chapter really as messy as I thought it was?
> 
> Check me out on tumblr at either my main blog [violinist-tsukki](http://violinist-tsukki.tumblr.com) or my writing blog [hanwritesstuff](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com)! (I'll be posting updates and rambles on this fic under the 'mitaosi' tag on the latter if you are so inclined)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish there was a way to only view certain ships as you got to certain chapters because that would make my job a lot easier. 
> 
> This chapter's dedicated to a certain meme supreme friend of mine who wanted some tsukkiyama fic to draw fanart for, here you go you nerd ily

At five-thirty the next morning, Tsukishima was standing next to Yamaguchi and Yachi by the street outside Shinzen, waiting for... something. Yachi probably knew what it was, but she said she wanted to keep it a surprise. For some reason.

"All right, our ride's supposed to be coming right around now." Yachi turned on her phone to check the time before she quickly put it in her bag again.

"Did we have to wake up at five in the morning for this?" Yamaguchi yawned.

"We scheduled it so we could spend the rest of the day practicing and not miss much," Yachi said. Her eyes widened as a rumble sounded from down the street. "Ooh, here it is!"

Tsukishima was expecting a taxi or a shuttle bus of some sort. Nothing too fancy, just enough to get to wherever this headquarters place was.

What he clearly didn't expect was a full-blown limo to come cruising down the street. It was sleek and black, and the windows were tinted so that you couldn't see inside. He looked to Yachi, but for some reason, she didn't seem fazed at all. This must have been the surprise she was talking about.

Once it pulled up right in front of the three of them, the front door opened and the driver got out, looking over the top of the car at them before his eyes landed on Yachi. "I assume you're Yachi Hitoka?"

"Yep!" Yachi grinned.

"According to what I have here, your trip is already paid for in full, so I suppose all you have to do is get in and enjoy the ride." He smiled, walking around the front of the car to open the rear door.

"Thank you!" Yachi ducked down to get inside before looking back to giggle at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. "Come on, guys, get in!"

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi shared a quick look before they hesitantly got in, taking a seat in the two seats in the back of the compartment, right next to the door, which were facing the front.

If the outside of the limo was surprising, the interior was possibly even more so. The seats they were sitting in were black and felt like leather, and they were almost ridiculously large, although the spaciousness definitely wasn’t something to complain about. Yachi was sitting in one of three seats that lined the windows and faced the inside of the car, across from what looked like a minibar. There were another two seats facing backward that were against a wall separating them from the driver, completely unused, just showing how big the limo was. Above them was a large TV screen, flanked by speakers on either side.

"Is this the surprise you were talking about?" Yamaguchi asked after a good thirty seconds taking everything in.

"Yeah, but there's more." Yachi giggled. "This wasn't even my idea!"

"Really?" Tsukishima raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Yachi said, "Apparently, since it's almost rush hour, our destination is an hour and a half from here, two if traffic is really bad. So one of the two agents from over there wanted us to have a good first impression."

“Wait, so are we going to do this every day?” Yamaguchi asked.

“No, this is just for today.” Yachi reached into her bag and grabbed her laptop. “After that, they said they have a plan for getting us there.”

“Oh.” Yamaguchi went back to looking around, eyes wide as the limo pulled out and started to drive down the street.

“I don't think there's anything I need to tell you about before we get there,” Yachi said, “So you guys can sleep for the rest of the trip if you want.”

“Are you going to stay up?” Yamaguchi asked.

“I'm kind of a morning person.” Yachi shrugged. “I'll find something to do.”

“Okay.” Yamaguchi interrupted himself with a yawn before he leaned over and rested his head on Tsukishima’s shoulder.

“Are you really just going to fall asleep in twenty seconds like that?” Tsukishima smirked.

“Maybe.” Yamaguchi smiled as he closed his eyes. “It's before six in the morning, it's not like I can really do anything else.”

Yachi giggled. “Seriously, both of you should get all the sleep you can get. It's going to be a busy day when we get there.”

“You don't need to tell me twice.” Yamaguchi yawned again, and was probably asleep within the next minute. At least, that's what Tsukishima got out of it, judging by the increase of weight on his right shoulder.

"So, are you just going to stare out the window the whole time?" Yachi asked as she took a pair of white earbuds out of her bag.

"I might." Tsukishima shrugged. It was incredibly awkward trying to shrug with only the left shoulder, but he did it anyway.

"Aren't you tired, though?"

"My sleep schedule's been weird. I feel fine." That was only partially a lie. It had been so long since anything pertaining to it was in any way normal that the early morning departure time didn't actually bother Tsukishima all that much.

"Oh." Yachi giggled. "At least you've actually been getting enough sleep! I've been up so late setting all this up, you wouldn't even know!"

"Is it even healthy to sleep for twenty hours in one day?”

“Twenty?” Yachi’s eyes widened. “Forget healthy, how is that even possible?”

“It was right after everything on Sunday night,” Tsukishima said, “I woke up at 12:30 in the afternoon, watched a movie, went home, and was asleep again by five.”

“Wow.” Yachi laughed. “I'm jealous!”

“Don't be,” Tsukishima said, “It's not worth it.”

Yamaguchi shifted ever so slightly from next to him, still fast asleep. He somehow either relaxed more, gotten closer than he already was or both, and was now pressed up right against Tsukishima’s arm. Probably without realizing it, he'd also moved his arms so they were wrapped tightly around Tsukishima's shoulders in a weird but not entirely unwelcome hug.

Despite that, Tsukishima didn't really mind all that much. He knew probably better than anyone else that Yamaguchi could get particularly clingy in his sleep. There didn't seem to be much of an explanation; it kind of just happened. And over the years, over the school trips and sleepovers and whatever else, Tsukishima had found he'd gotten used to it. At this point, it didn't seem like a surprise when it happened, but almost like an expectation. Mostly, his philosophy was that if it happened, it happened, and he wasn't going to complain. After all, it wasn't uncomfortable.

Yachi looked up from her laptop and giggled. "That's adorable!" She only laughed harder when Tsukishima started to glare at her. "What? It's really cute!"

Tsukishima rolled his eyes and went back to staring out the window. By now, they were just getting onto the freeway, where, as expected, traffic was miserable. A line of cars crawled slowly down the two lanes of the highway, brake lights casting a red glow on everything.

As he looked at everything outside, after a while he felt his eyes starting to close. All in all, he wasn't exactly surprised that he was falling asleep; the seats in the limo were pretty comfortable, and it was before six in the morning.

He drifted off not long after that, leaning over so his head rested against the window.

 

***

 

“Hey, guys, wake up!” Tsukishima felt someone, probably Yachi, poking him in the shoulder. “We're almost there!”

“Hm?” Tsukishima slowly opened his eyes to find that the car was surrounded on all sides by people, other cars, and very tall buildings.

Yachi grinned as she looked out the window. “This is going to be fun, don’t look so nervous!”

“Who said I looked nervous?” Tsukishima asked.

Before Yachi could respond, Yamaguchi yawned and sat up, eyes still half closed. After blinking a few times, he started to look somewhat awake as he stretched his arms up over his head before leaning back in the seat again.

"Good, you're both awake now." Yachi turned her head to face them just as the car came to a stop. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I think so." Yamaguchi gulped as he looked out the window at the skyscraper they'd stopped in front of.

When the driver walked around and opened the rear door, Tsukishima was the first one to get out. As he looked at the building in front of him, he realized that it was a lot taller than he thought it was, at least forty stories high. In all honesty, it looked more like an office building or apartment complex than the weird superhero headquarters place that it was, but that was probably the point.

"All right!" Once Yachi got out of the limo, she looked up from her phone at the skyscraper. "It says here that we're going to be on the top floor."

"How many floors are there?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Fifty-two." Yachi started walking towards the entrance, the automatic doors sliding open to let her through. "The view's probably fantastic from up there."

Yachi led them through the building’s lobby into an elevator and pressed the button labeled "52" on the panel. Almost immediately after she pressed the button, the elevator started to move up, slowly enough so the trip felt like forever. There were brief stops on two of the earlier floors, but once the people on those floors realized the car wasn't going down, they ignored it. They didn't have any need to go higher up than wherever they needed to be.

When the elevator doors slid open on the fifty-second floor, Tsukishima was almost blinded by the sunlight streaming in. The sun was barely above the horizon, and it was completely invisible from the street, but with the building's height, it was much more visible.

Once he got past the sunlight, he looked around at the room he was now standing in. There were a lot of chairs and couches across the room, with a desk in the corner. A door led off into some hallway next to the desk, sort of reminding him of a doctor's office. One wall just consisted of a large floor-to-ceiling window looking out at the city skyline. The ground wasn't even visible from way up here unless you were right up against the window itself, which he wasn't.

"You guys can stay here and take in the view, I'll go check in." Yachi grabbed a piece of paper out of her bag as she started to walk over to the desk.

"Are you ever going to tell us what's going on?" Tsukishima asked, "Because it's not like you've told us any of the details."

"I told you, it's a surprise!" Yachi grinned. "Don't worry, you'll only have to wait for a few minutes." She practically skipped the rest of the way to the desk before she started a conversation in hushed tones with the woman sitting at it.

Yamaguchi was the first one to walk over to the window, pressing his face against it as he tried to look down at the street below. Eventually, his eyes widened as he started to smile.

"Hey, Tsukki, check this out!" He pointed out the window down towards the street.

Tsukishima walked over to the window and looked down where he was pointing. The street, where they'd been standing just a few minutes ago, looked miniscule from up here. The people walking down there were almost invisible, and the cars didn't look much bigger than ants.

"Okay, we're all checked in!" Yachi walked back towards them from the desk. "We just have to wait a few minutes until they're ready for us."

"What's there to get ready?" Tsukishima asked.

“I don't know,” Yachi said, “They didn't really tell me a lot about what's going to happen.”

“Hm.” Tsukishima nodded. That was suspicious. Why wouldn't they tell her anything? Why wouldn't they tell any of them anything? “Do you at least know who they are?”

“I only have the name of one of the agents.” Yachi frowned. “I don’t know who the other one is, and when it comes to Team Tokyo themselves, I don't have a clue.”

“That's weird,” Yamaguchi said, “Do they know about us, though?”

“I'm not sure.” Yachi looked down at the floor. “This is so weird.”

All three of them sighed, looking out the window at the skyscrapers surrounding them.

“Yachi-san?” The voice coming from behind them sounded oddly familiar.

Yachi was the first one to turn around and smile at the person behind her. “Hi!”

“We're ready whenever you are,” the person said.

Yachi flashed a quick thumbs-up. “All right!” She turned to Tsukishima and Yamaguchi with a grin. “Let's do this.”

They all got up and turned around at around the same time, not expecting much.

But once they saw none other than Akaashi Keiji standing at the door and holding a fairly large tablet, it was clear that they weren't expecting anything close to what actually ended up happening.

"Akaashi-san?" Tsukishima's eyes widened. He'd been practicing with him just last night. He'd had no idea whatsoever. And now they were seeing each other again in entirely different circumstances.

This was so weird.

“Hey.” There wasn't any hint of any emotion whatsoever in Akaashi’s voice. Which only could have meant that he already knew that they'd be here. "You guys should stop gawking and follow me. There's a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it."

Tsukishima could easily see Yamaguchi gulp before he nodded, following Akaashi through the door into a brightly-lit hallway. Tsukishima followed a few feet behind him, and Yachi took up the rear.

"Um, Akaashi-san?" Yamaguchi asked, "Did you know...?" He trailed off.

"Did I know ahead of time that it would be you two?" Akaashi shrugged. "Yeah. Although I only found out last week, and I was fairly surprised when I did, if that's what you wanted to hear."

They kept walking through the hallway, which wasn't as crowded as Tsukishima had thought it would be. He'd only seen a few people pass them by, easily stepping to the side of the hall to let them through.

"Akaashi-kun!" A young woman ran up to him, carrying a stack of something mostly black in her hands, holding it out to him as she came to a stop in front of him. "Someone told me you were asking for these. I hope it's not too late."

"Oh." He looked down at them before a tiny smile appeared on his face. "Yeah. Thanks for getting them, Ishizuka-san.” He briefly glanced back at the group behind him. “You’re just in time, actually.”

“Hm?” Ishizuka tilted her head to one side for a second before her eyes widened once she got a good look at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. “Oh, you’re them!? I thought you wouldn’t be here this early!”

“Um, yeah.” Yamaguchi shrugged. “Hi.”

“Hi!” Ishizuka waved. “I’m a huge fan of yours, actually!”

“Thanks!” As Yamaguchi smiled, Yachi grinned even wider, probably trying to make up for Tsukishima’s lack of acknowledgement whatsoever.

“Everyone,” Akaashi said, turning around, “This is Ishizuka Akane. She works with me sometimes.” He turned back around to face Ishizuka. “Ishizuka-san, this is Tsukishima Kei, Yamaguchi Tadashi, and Yachi Hitoka.”

“Nice to meet you!” Ishizuka bowed deeply and smiled before she started back down the hallway and disappeared into a room somewhere near the end.

"What's that?" Yamaguchi asked, trying to get a look at the pile that Akaashi was holding.

"You knew you'd be getting new uniforms today, right?" Akaashi smirked.

Yamaguchi's eyes widened. "What do they look like?"

"You'll find out in a minute." Akaashi continued down the hall, turning right at one point into another hallway. "I don't think they look completely stupid, but that's just my opinion."

He turned right again before he opened a door on the left side of the hallway and walked into a small room, which had three identical-looking doors in a line next to each other. Upon opening them, they turned out to be three small dressing rooms. Akaashi divided the stack he was carrying in half and put one mini-stack in two of the rooms. The stack in the left room had a hint of green in the sea of mostly black fabric, and the stack in the right room - which was in the middle of the three - had a hint of red.

"I assume you two can recognize the color scheme of your own uniform, so I think my job here is done for the time being." Akaashi turned around to face Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. "Obviously, since you're already here, and everyone here knows who you are, masks are optional once you're done changing, but try them on anyway. They might look cool."

"Wait, you expect us to wear this and look stupid for however long we're here?" Tsukishima asked, "That seems impractical if we're just going to be having meetings here."

"You're just trying it on for now," Akaashi said, "If you're so inclined, you don't have to wear it after that."

"Great." Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

After that, Akaashi went back into the hall with Yachi, shutting the door and leaving Tsukishima and Yamaguchi staring at each other in complete, shocked silence. It was a while before either of them even blinked.

“This is so weird,” Yamaguchi whispered.

“Yeah.” Tsukishima stared at the door for a second. “I don’t know if there’s a reason for us to not know anything about what’s going on here, but if there is, it had better be a damn good one.”

“I wonder if they’re trying to hide something.” Yamaguchi frowned.

“But what’s there to hide?”

“I don’t know.” Yamaguchi sighed. "I'm gonna go try the new uniform on." He smiled. "It has be better than a hoodie and sweatpants, right?" He turned around and walked into the dressing room on the left, not saying a word more.

"I guess." Tsukishima shrugged, walking into the room in the middle and sitting on the bench inside, right next to the folded-up uniform. He held it up in front of him, soon seeing that it was a four-piece ensemble. Two of the pieces were entirely black: something that looked like the annoyingly-traditional spandex superhero uniform and a pair of particularly tall boots. The other two, as per tradition, were red: the usual mask and what seemed to be a leather jacket. The shade of red was entirely different, more like maroon than the super-cheesy fire engine red that the mask had been previously.

As he tried to change as quickly as possible, just for the sake of getting this over with, he started thinking. Akaashi and whoever he was working with had to be hiding something. Even Yachi, who had known at least more about this than Tsukishima and Yamaguchi did, was still in the dark about most of it. It was weird; everything here reeked of suspicion and secrecy, like a conspiracy theory waiting to happen.

"Hey, Tsukki?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Yeah?"

"Akaashi-san was right, this doesn't actually look that stupid." Yamaguchi chuckled.

"Huh." Tsukishima finished putting on the base uniform, zipped up the boots, and looked in the mirror.

As he’d expected, it was the generic spandex uniform, although it didn’t look as bad as he thought, considering that it didn’t have any kind of stupid logo on the front. While it brought skintight to a whole new level, it wasn’t uncomfortable, and it looked surprisingly okay. Black had always been his uniform’s base color, ever since he’d started doing this. The only difference was that before, the entire outfit was just a black hoodie and track pants over whatever he happened to be wearing at the time, and now it was an entire ensemble in itself, with even more to come once he put the jacket on. The sleeves even extended long enough past his wrists that he could probably make fingerless gloves out of them. Not that he would, but it was a possibility.

The boots blended in with everything else, going up to his knees and almost melting into the rest of the uniform. They didn’t seem like much, but they seemed like they’d be fairly easy to move around in.

He turned away from the mirror for a second to grab the jacket and the mask before putting it on and staring at himself again.

The first thing he saw was, obviously, the mask covering his eyes. Its darker maroon color, being a lot less tacky than the bright red it was before, changed the feeling of everything, making it all seem a bit edgier. That was very different from the party-supply-store feeling it had before.

Was that the message he wanted to send with all this? He didn't really know.

The jacket was the same color as the mask, and it looked, for lack of a better term, pretty badass. It was cropped, only going down to the middle of his chest, and while it seemed stupid in theory, in practice it was anything but. That was probably the leather.

Yeah, this definitely wasn't as stupid as he thought it would be.

After spending a few seconds just staring at his reflection in the mirror and trying to get used to the new look, he slowly turned around and opened the dressing room door, walking back out into the room he'd been in before.

There was a loud creak as the door on the left opened and Yamaguchi walked out, yawning to himself. His uniform was almost identical to Tsukishima's, except that the dark red parts were replaced with a dark forest green.

"Hey!" Yamaguchi grinned before he struck what was quite possibly the cheesiest pose imaginable. "Pretty cool, huh?" He giggled. "I don't know about you, but I like this."

"Yeah." Tsukishima slowly nodded.

"Wait." Yamaguchi paused for a moment. "Take your mask off for a second."

"Why?"

"I don't know." Yamaguchi shrugged. "I just kind of want to see what it looks like."

After a split-second spent deciding if he'd do it or not - which was a pretty decision, because there wasn't really any part of the uniform that was more tacky - Tsukishima reached up behind his head and grabbed the elastic band holding the mask in place. He lifted it over the top of his head and pulled it off completely, leaving it dangling by the band around his finger.

At the same time he finished, Yamaguchi was just ending the process himself, dropping the mask down on the ground before he looked back up and grinned.

The two of them just stared at each other for a while until they were interrupted by a loud noise from outside the room they were in that sounded like the shuffling of paper, probably from out in the hallway. In a second, both of them had gotten over to the door, pressing their ears to it to try to hear what was going on out there.

“Can you please pick that up?” Akaashi sounded particularly exasperated. “Those are important files.”

“Okay!” That was a new voice. While Tsukishima didn't recognize it outright, it sounded almost familiar. “What's so important about them anyway? You told me not to look at them and you didn't tell me anything about them.”

“I'll show you later,” Akaashi said, “It's kind of complicated.”

“Akaashi!” The other person sighed.

And it was at that moment that Tsukishima realized exactly who was on the other side of that door.

“Crap,” he whispered to himself.

“Hm?” Yamaguchi tilted his head to one side.

“I think I know who the other manager is.” Tsukishima sighed. “This is going to be hell.”

“Who is it?” Yamaguchi asked.

Tsukishima just shook his head and rolled his eyes as he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. If this was who he thought it was going to be, they'd make some comment about the uniform.

"Hey, you two are looking spiffy!"

He found himself staring, just as he expected, at the smugly-grinning face of Bokuto Koutarou, who was holding two sheets of paper in his hands.

"Bet you didn't expect to see me here, huh?" Bokuto chuckled. "Well, it looks like we'll be working together for the next few days, so you both had better get used to me!"

"Swell," Tsukishima muttered to himself.

Bokuto stood there for a second before he turned to Akaashi. "Hey, do they know about -?"

"No, they don't." Akaashi promptly interrupted him. "And you're not going to be the person to tell them."

"Akaashi! That's no fun!" Bokuto frowned.

"Um, what are you guys talking about?" Yamaguchi asked.

"It's nothing." Akaashi's expression, as usual, was completely neutral. "You'll find out tomorrow."

There it was again, that weird air of secrecy around everything. Why did they have to wait until tomorrow when they were already here today? And even if they could have found out today, shouldn't they have been able to know? They were even more involved in this than Yachi was, and yet she knew quite a bit up front whereas they knew nothing at all.

"I assume the uniforms are fitting fine," Akaashi said, tapping something on the tablet he was holding. "So now we just have to do the meeting and we're done for today. It shouldn't take too long.” He held the tablet down by his side and turned around, walking back down the hallway. “Follow me.”

Yachi was the first one to start walking behind him, followed by Bokuto, leaving Tsukishima and Yamaguchi at the back of the group. As they wound through the hallways in another almost-impossible-to-remember pattern, they were mostly silent, just following Akaashi’s lead.

Eventually, they turned into a room that, compared to the rest of the building, looked immensely casual. There were three small couches, two desks, and a mini-fridge in the corner, stuffed with packets of various types of snacks. There was a large open space near the two desks, leaving Tsukishima to wonder what exactly it was used for, if anything.

After setting the tablet down on one of the desks, Akaashi took a seat on the couch nearest the door. Bokuto stopped in the corner to grab something out of the box that looked a lot like a candy bar before sitting down on the floor in front of the couch Akaashi was sitting on.

“Bokuto-san, can I have the files?” Akaashi asked.

“Yeah,” Bokuto said mid-crunch, holding the papers up above his head just as Akaashi snatched them out of his hand.

“All right.” Akaashi briefly looked over the papers before looking up at Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Yachi, who were still standing somewhat awkwardly at the door. “You guys can find a seat if you want.”

Yachi eagerly nodded, taking a seat on the second couch, the one closest to the door. After that, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi slowly made their way over to the third couch, which was directly across from the one Akaashi was sitting on.

“Okay,” Akaashi said, “I don’t think there’s much to go over here, it all seems pretty straightforward.”

“You two are all over Twitter!” Bokuto still had food in his mouth. “You look like you’re doing pretty good!”

“Right.” Akaashi said. “We’ve been looking at the news every once in a while when you come on, and you seem to be getting the hang of it, so there isn’t really much to say there.”

“Eclipse called you a natural, Tsukki!” Bokuto grinned.

“One, don’t call me that.” Tsukishima frowned. “Two, who’s Eclipse?”

Bokuto’s eyes widened before he looked up at Akaashi. “Crap, Akaashi, I screwed up!”

“It’s okay, Bokuto-san.” Akaashi sighed before looking back at Tsukishima. “Eclipse is one of Team Tokyo’s two members. You’ll be meeting him tomorrow.”

“Hm.” Tsukishima nodded, trying to ignore Bokuto trying not to laugh in front of him. This entire thing didn’t seem good.

“As for the rest of the meeting,” Akaashi said, “I just have to look over your files for a second.”

“Wait, files?” Yamaguchi asked, “What’s on there?”

“Your names, dates of birth, superpowers you possess, and a bunch of other things that aren’t as important,” Akaashi said, “Now, let me just check them out...” His eyes quickly scanned the page, without any hint of surprise or any emotion at all. After a few seconds, he turned the page, looking over the second in generally the same way.

He stopped at the bottom of the page, eyes widening as he stared at the same section of the paper for a few seconds before looking back up. “Yamaguchi?”

“Yeah?” Yamaguchi tilted his head to one side.

“I don't know for sure, but this week seems like it's going to be a little...” Akaashi paused for a second. “Complicated.”

“What do you mean?” Yamaguchi’s voice got a lot quieter.

“You’ve just had telekinesis your whole life, right?” Akaashi asked, “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Yeah.” Yamaguchi nodded slowly.

“Well, according to what it says here, you have the potential to do a lot more.” Akaashi looked back down at the sheet again. “It might just be wishful thinking, but if you experiment with it while you’re here, you might find that you’re much more powerful than you thought. New powers entirely are definitely a possibility, and according to the list here, there are a lot of options for what those could be.”

“Why would I only get new powers now?” Yamaguchi asked, "And what could I be able to do?"

“I’m not quite sure,” Akaashi said, “I’ll look into it and try to tell you something by tomorrow. As for the list, it's pretty long, so I'll explain all that tomorrow, too. But in the meantime, be careful.”

“Hm?”

Akaashi smirked. “From here on out, you might be in completely unknown territory. Don't let your guard down, and try not to kill anyone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't cry over my otp when I'm listening to rhythm game music why is this happening why am I such a sap


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! If you got the link to this on a piece of paper in a tin of chocolate chip cookies, this coming note is for you! If you did not receive the link in this way or you don't know what I'm talking about, feel free to move along and start the chapter, because this is a note for one specific person!
> 
> Hi, J! Guess what, I'm your Scrub Club Secret Santa™!! And I know this is a really bad present, just me selfishly displaying my own work as a gift, but you know what? I gave you cookies. And I think you're going to like those. I tried to write a Kagehina fic that involved chocolate chip cookies, but I encountered horrible writer's block over the weekend, so I tried this and I hope you're happy with it. Love ya!! <3 Hannah

The next morning, Akaashi led the way back to the last room they'd been in the day before and sat down at one of the desks.

"Okay, so." He opened a laptop that was sitting on the desk. "I have about ten minutes to explain this if we want to stay on schedule. But if we go overboard, we can either cut out a part of the tech upgrade entirely or do it after the breakfast meeting."

"We can decide when we get there." Yachi sat down one of the couches while Tsukishima and Yamaguchi took another. Bokuto was standing behind the desk, looking over Akaashi's shoulder.

"All right," Akaashi said, looking at something on the laptop before turning to Yamaguchi. "This is mostly just going to be a general overview, so if you have any questions, you can ask me later."

"Okay." Yamaguchi nodded, looking down at his feet.

"Don't look so nervous!" Bokuto grinned. "This is really cool."

"It actually is," Akaashi said, "And the research was mostly just finding out the history of this whole superhero project. I only started working here last year, so I didn't know most of this until last night."

"How did you start working here?" Yachi asked, "I mean, you were probably the youngest manager in the country."

"I was the youngest until you started," Akaashi said, "And I'll tell that story later, we don't have a lot of time right now."

"Oh. Right." Yachi bowed her head. "Sorry."

"Let's just get this done." Akaashi stared at the screen of the laptop. "So this whole thing was formed by the government in the seventies, after various reports of superpowered crime all over the country. The police couldn't do much about it, so the government stepped in by somehow inventing a injection that would give whoever got it superhuman abilities. Basically, think Captain America. I didn't look into the science of it, so for now, I have no idea how it works."

"And the government guys didn't really know what they were doing, either," Bokuto continued, "So the first group of superheroes were really powerful, like they had a ton of powers and were really strong and everything!"

"And that's where you come in." Akaashi looked up from the laptop at Yamaguchi. "Your parents were both part of the first generation, so they both had a lot of power that they passed down to you. But you're different from a lot of the other second-generation heroes, too."

"How?" Yamaguchi asked.

"A lot of them have one former-hero parent and one normal parent, so theoretically, they only have half the amount of raw power that you do. That's how Team Tokyo is. And even then, most of the hero couples who had kids were fairly similar in terms of their abilities. Your parents, on the other hand, were entirely different, since their powers were very different from each other. So because of that, you might just be more powerful than both of them, since you might be able to combine what they could do into something even stronger."

"Oh."

“A lot of what’s coming next is really up to chance.” Akaashi grabbed three pieces of paper off the desk from next to the laptop. “There’s no real way to tell what kinds of things you’re going to end up with, or when they’re all going to manifest themselves. They might have been there since you were around twelve and you just didn’t notice it, or you might be starting to developing them now, or they won’t start developing until you’re in college, or they might not manifest themselves at all. I don’t know how it’s going to work, so the only real way to find out is to test it out and see what happens.”

“But there’s one other important thing.” Bokuto put one finger up. “From what I understand, these people changed the injection process, so people who went that route more recently, like Tsukki here, are a lot more...” He paused for a second. “How am I gonna say this?” He smirked. “ _Watered down_.”

“What do you mean by that?” Tsukishima asked, eyes narrowed.

“I’m just saying that sooner or later, you two are gonna switch in terms of who’s more powerful than who.” Bokuto chuckled.

“Oh.” Tsukishima sat back in his seat and crossed his arms. That was a pleasant surprise, compared to what he was expecting. Not that he really knew what he was expecting, but this was definitely better.

“Anyway.” Akaashi looked over the papers in his hand briefly before handing them to Yamaguchi over the desk. “Take a look at these. Your file’s on the top, your parents’ are on the bottom.”

“Okay.” Yamaguchi took the three papers and flipped through them quickly, looking like he was just skimming through, before he looked at one of them for much longer. After a few seconds, his eyes widened before he broke out into a grin. "Whoa."

“See? I told you it was cool!” Bokuto put his hands on his hips and grinned.

“Hm?” Tsukishima leaned over, trying to get a look at

the piece of paper Yamaguchi was holding. “What is it?”

“Look at this!” Yamaguchi shoved the piece of paper into Tsukishima’s hands. “It’s at the bottom section of the page.”

“All right.” Tsukishima quickly looked through the rest of the page before his eyes arrived at the bottom section, marked “Potential Capabilities”. The list was long, with at least five bullet points.

The first one was simply marked “fire manipulation”, which seemed pretty straightforward. The second and third ones turned out to be largely the same way, marked “enhanced speed” and “enhanced strength” respectively. The fourth and fifth were fairly easy to understand, but it was weird to see them even as a possibility. “Telepathy” and “mind control” weren’t exactly the kind of superpowers he’d expect when thinking about Yamaguchi, but if that did end up happening, chances were that he’d get used to it. The sixth, “energy manipulation”, was something that he didn’t understand whatsoever.

This week was definitely turning out to be one of the weirdest weeks of his entire life.

"And I think that's it," Akaashi said, "Any questions?"

"Yeah." Yamaguchi nodded. "My control sucks. Like I always use my powers without thinking about it or meaning to. What's that going to mean now that I could do more?"

"Well, here's the thing," Bokuto said, "You can't really do something without meaning to do it unless you've gotten used to doing it in the first place. You're fine."

"Okay."

"But you should still be careful," Akaashi said, "Just be conscious of it and you'll be okay."

"All right." Yamaguchi smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. And good luck."

"What time is it?" Bokuto asked with a yawn, "I'm hungry!"

"It's 8:45 right now," Yachi said, looking up at the clock on the wall.

"That makes fifteen minutes until the breakfast meeting's supposed to start," Akaashi said.

"Where is that, anyway?" Yachi asked.

"There's a café right across the street back down on the ground," Bokuto said, "It's really good, their waffles are _huge_!"

"Do the Team Tokyo people ever have jobs in the morning?" Yachi asked.

"Rarely," Akaashi said, "They usually happen later in the day. There's almost no chance that they'll have to leave during the meeting, if that's what you're asking."

"Is fifteen minutes enough time to do the tech thing?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Nah, there's too much cool stuff." Bokuto frowned before grinning in Akaashi’s direction. “I guess we’ll have to just go down to breakfast early.”

Before Akaashi could respond, he was interrupted by a ding from his own phone. After pulling it out of his pocket and looking at it for a few seconds, he narrowed his eyes. "Actually, there's a change of plans."

"Hm?" Bokuto tilted his head to the side.

"Glitch just texted me. He said that they'd rather meet us in the gym."

"The one here?" Bokuto asked.

"What other gym would we be talking about?" Akaashi looked down at the screen and frowned. "Why, though? There's no point in coming all the way up here, unless they -" He stopped instantly, giving Bokuto a particularly intense death glare. "Bokuto-san, did you tell Eclipse anything?"

"No, of course not!" Bokuto was lying, and it was pretty obvious. "Why would I?"

Akaashi sighed, putting the phone back in his pocket. "Let's just go. It can't make much of a difference if those two know now."

With that, everyone started walking out of the room, with Akaashi leading them down the hall in another impossible-to-remember pattern. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi stayed at the back, like they usually did, and walked a little slower. Tsukishima couldn't help but wonder what all the doors they passed led to. Were they offices or something else entirely?

"I was planning on showing you guys the gym anyway." Akaashi navigated the hallway with ease, not having to look to know where to turn. "It'll be helpful if you want to help out with any jobs or anything later."

"Wait, jobs?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Yep!" Bokuto grinned. "After this, you two can officially come along on jobs around here!" He laughed. "It's always a party, and everyone here knows who you are anyway!"

"They do?" Tsukishima asked. He shouldn't have been too surprised at that, and yet, he was.

"Before reviews started getting good, people complained about them a lot online." Bokuto shrugged. "People heard about it, watched your jobs and stuff on TV, then they got mad about reviews and complained about them, and the cycle starts all over again." He laughed. "You should check your tag on Twitter sometime, it's pretty great right now."

"Maybe later." Akaashi cut in, speeding up his pace the smallest bit. "We don't want to be late."

As he picked up speed and tried to catch up with everyone else, Tsukishima couldn't help but think about everything that Bokuto and Akaashi were talking about before they left the room, and more importantly, how he didn't know any of it. He had no idea who this Glitch person was, although he assumed they were the other member of Team Tokyo, along with Eclipse, whoever that was. And he didn't know what the gym was that they'd been talking about, or why Bokuto had asked if Akaashi meant the gym here, like there was another gym somewhere. And Team Tokyo still loomed in the distance, and Tsukishima had reason to believe that they knew everything about him without it also being the other way around.

He was hoping that after this, all the secrecy around here would end, but that didn't seem like it would be the case. And even if it was, there would probably be something new to worry about.

That was one of the few things he resented about this job in the first place: the constant stress of everything. He was actually a little surprised that he hadn't burned out yet, even though he'd only been doing this for a few months. Maybe it was just all the sleep he got after every job that kept him sane. He didn't know.

But despite being twelve at the time, he considered his decision to go through with this one of the best decisions he'd ever made. Things were complicated and sometimes terrifying, sure, but he always found himself looking forward to Friday as soon as he woke up on Monday, not just because of the weekend but because of the job that would usually kick it off. It was one of the few things he was passionate about, and when the stakes weren't that high, he could easily have fun with it.

"All right, here we are!" Bokuto turned around and did a sort of jazz-hands pose once he stopped in front of a set of double doors. They didn't look that special, they just looked like every other door in the building, but there was something slightly weird about them.

"Let's just go in," Akaashi said, walking past Bokuto to open the doors. He stepped inside, waiting there for a second before he narrowed his eyes with a frown.

"What's going on?" Bokuto asked, looking inside for a second before his eyes widened.

"What are you doing here?" Akaashi asked someone in the room, hands on his hips. "This wasn't what we agreed on."

"I just wanted to make a grand entrance." The voice inside the room was muffled by the walls and the door, but it sounded ridiculously smooth.

“That's not a very good reason to change the entire plan.” Akaashi crossed his arms.

“Listen, I'm sorry.”

“You don't sound like it.” Akaashi scowled. “Did Bokuto-san tell you anything?”

“Akaashi, I told you I didn’t!” Bokuto interrupted.

“He might have told me something,” the other person said.

Akaashi rolled his eyes before glaring at Bokuto. “I thought I told you not to tell him!”

“His best friend can read minds, stuff slips out.” Bokuto shrugged. “Besides, it's not like it matters much now, right? There's only going to be thirty more seconds before everyone knows everything.”

Akaashi sighed. “Okay, fine. You're right. But try not to let the cat out of the bag early next time, all right?”

Bokuto nodded before he turned around and grinned in Tsukishima and Yamaguchi’s direction. “I think it's cool for you guys to come in now.”

“Um, okay.” Yamaguchi paused for a second before taking a tentative step into the room, right behind Bokuto and Akaashi. Yachi followed soon behind him, and Tsukishima took up the rear, trying to see who else was in the room before he fully got inside.

Right when he walked inside, Tsukishima could easily see that the gym wasn’t so much a normal gym as it was a full-on athletic facility. Around two-thirds of it was taken up by an almost-Olympic-sized pool, with two diving boards right behind it, one fairly low and the other one ridiculously high. There was a red track going around the pool with three separate lanes, and on one side of it was a group of standard exercise machines, like treadmills and ellipticals. The other side was some weird obstacle course structure that looked weird and out of place, like one of those huge jungle gyms at those kid fun centers with all the tunnels and bridges and slides.

"Now!” Someone shouted from across the room. It was a voice that Tsukishima didn't recognize, but he felt like he'd heard it somewhere before.

After that, everything played out like a movie. In the span of barely a few seconds, the gym went from bright as day to almost pitch black, eerily similar to when it had happened back home a month before. That must have been a coincidence.

Even when Tsukishima thought it couldn’t get any darker, it somehow did, until he couldn’t see anything two feet in front of him. From somewhere next to him, he felt someone, probably Yamaguchi or possibly Yachi, grab his hand tight, almost cutting off his circulation, but he squeezed back.

The gym got ever slightly lighter, light enough for Tsukishima to see that it was in fact Yamaguchi who'd grabbed his hand and was still squeezing it now. But that clearly wasn't what the person in here wanted him to see. There were two people standing on top of the obstacle course, one of them on top of a pole and the other one on a bridge. It was still too dark to see anything but their silhouettes.

Akaashi sighed. “Are you two really doing this?”

“Nah, it's not _that_." The person from earlier chuckled. It was impossible to tell whether it was the one on the pole or the one on the bridge. "We'll do that later. We just wanted to set the right mood."

"How is this the right mood? You're just scaring everyone." Akaashi crossed his arms before smirking up at the obstacle course. "Are you just trying to make up for the fact that you'd never hurt a fly?"

"Akaashi!" The person gasped.

"What? It's true."

"Yeah, I guess it is."

"Can you just do the reveal already?" Akaashi pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time before putting it right back in. "We're already behind schedule."

“All right, fine!” The person huffed. “I guess we’ll just have to have actual fun later.”

With that, the darkness that filled the room seemed to evaporate without a trace, almost like it wasn’t actually there. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling seemed ever brighter in contrast, and all the colors now seemed to pop even more so than before.

And the two people standing on the obstacle course became clearly visible and instantly recognizable, by their hair if nothing else.

“Well, well, well!” As he flipped - _flipped?_ \- off the top of the pole and effortlessly touched down to the ground, Kuroo only grinned. “This is quite the coincidence, huh?”

No one said anything. Kuroo started laughing. Bokuto joined in. Akaashi rolled his eyes and sighed.

“I thought that would happen.” Kuroo shrugged. “I guess you’re just that surprised to see me here, huh?”

“Don’t be so full of yourself, Kuroo.” Kenma rolled his eyes from where he stood on the bridge. “You’d be just as surprised as they are if Bokuto-san hadn’t told you already.”

“Okay, true.” Kuroo sighed before turning back around and looking at Yachi. “So you’re their manager in more ways than one. That’s pretty cool.”

“Yep!” Yachi smiled.

“Anyway!” Kuroo turned his attention to Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. “Normally, I’d be doing introductions right now and welcoming you all here, but it seems like we all already know each other, so we can check that off the list!”

Tsukishima looked around at everyone else in the room and was surprised to find that he, in fact, did know everyone there.

“You guys can call me Eclipse around here if you’re so inclined,” Kuroo continued, “It’s sort of my codename.”

So he was the Eclipse Bokuto and Akaashi were talking about. _Great_.

“What do we do now?” Tsukishima asked.

“Oh!” Bokuto put one of his pointer fingers up in the air. “We didn’t talk about reviews yesterday!”

“You didn’t?” Kuroo asked, “That’s kind of major!”

“I know, we just didn’t have time!”

“Um, you don’t have to.” Yamaguchi nervously looked down at his feet, even though he was obviously trying to hide a smile. “Akaashi-san said we had other things to do, and I’ve heard a lot about them already, so if there isn’t time -”

“Oh, we do!" Bokuto grinned. "It's quite an impressive turnaround."

"It really is," Akaashi said, "It's only been around two months since they were at their worst."

"Yeah, they really sucked at the beginning of June, right?" Kuroo asked.

"Um, yeah." Yamaguchi chuckled. "I think that was when it was." He let out a shaky breath.

"Reliving old memories, huh?" Kuroo laughed. "Sorry about that, I was just trying to clarify some stuff."

"Oh!" Yamaguchi's eyes widened. "No, it's okay. It's not like it’s a bad thing.”

Tsukishima could easily tell that he and Yamaguchi were thinking about the exact same thing. And why wouldn't they be? It was the only good thing that had happened in that week-and-a-half-long stretch that was the crossover from May to June, and it was something easy to remember. It had played on repeat in Tsukishima’s head during class every day for a solid week afterward at the very least and it still popped into his head on a regular basis.

“Yeah, I guess not.” Kuroo sighed. “I'm jealous, we didn't get any mediocre reviews for at least the first year.”

“How long have you been doing this, anyway?” Tsukishima asked.

“I was thirteen when I started,” Kuroo said, “Second year of middle school.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah. It was pretty tough for a while when I first started, but -” Kuroo chuckled. “Here I am!”

“Wow." Yachi's eyes widened. "That must have been hard."

"Yeah, a little." Kuroo shrugged before focusing his attention back on Yamaguchi. "Anyway, I saw everything on Sunday on TV. That looked really cool."

"Oh. Thanks."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm looking forward to working together." Kuroo grinned. "We really need all the help we can get around here."

“Thanks for having us!” Yachi gave a slight bow.

“No problem.” Kuroo laughed before turning around. “Hey, Kenma! Get over here and join the party!”

Kenma rolled his eyes and jumped down from the bridge of the obstacle course onto the ground and walked over to stand between Kuroo and Akaashi. “What?”

“Nothing, I just didn’t want you to be over there all on your own.” Kuroo playfully nudged him in the shoulder before looking back up at everyone else. “So, any questions?”

“Um, what are jobs like around here?” Yachi asked, “Bokuto-san said we’d be working on some of them while we’re here.”

"Pretty different from out in the boonies, if that's what you're asking." Kuroo smirked. "From what I understand, yours are really hard and complicated but happen way less often, but here, they happen around every day but they're pretty easy."

"Every day?" Yamaguchi's eyes widened.

"It usually takes less than an hour," Kenma said, eyes still glued to his phone screen. "It's not that bad."

"Okay." Yamaguchi tentatively nodded.

"There's probably going to be one tonight, so if the three of you are interested, we'll gladly take you aboard!" Bokuto grinned, lightly nudging Tsukishima's shoulder.

"Wait, so does that mean I'll get to be part of this, too?" Yachi asked, eyes bright.

Akaashi nodded. "When Kuroo-san said we needed help, he wasn't exaggerating. As the saying goes, the more, the merrier."

“Sweet!” Yachi crinkled her eyes as she smiled. “This is going to be fun!”

“It really is.” Bokuto laughed. “Believe me, mission control is not as bad as you think.”

“Just be careful.” Akaashi frowned as he looked over at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. “Kuroo-san and Bokuto-san once spent an entire job singing that one song from Shrek over the communication system. It was horrible.”

“Come on, Akaashi, that was fun!” Bokuto elbowed him in the side.

"No, it wasn't. You two were singing that for a solid forty-five minutes."

In that moment, Tsukishima's respect for Akaashi grew exponentially. He probably wouldn't have been able to go through that without hurting anyone.

"So, wanna try out the obstacle course?" Kuroo asked, obviously trying to change the subject, pointing his thumb out behind him at the structure. "It's pretty fun if you ask me."

"I don't know." Yachi looked over at Akaashi. "Do we have time?"

"The big reveal didn't take as long as I thought it would," Akaashi said, "So I think we have a little time for this."

"Awesome." Kuroo grinned.

"We're going to do the tech upgrade in twenty minutes, so you know where to meet us then."

"Should I come with you guys or stay here?" Yachi asked.

"I'd recommend staying here," Bokuto said, "This stuff is pretty cool to watch."

"Okay!" Yachi nodded.

"Bokuto-san, you can head down," Akaashi said, "I have to ask Kenma something."

"Hm?" Kenma tentatively walked over to the doorway, where he and Akaashi exchanged inaudible whispers before he nodded. "Okay. I will."

"Thanks." Akaashi turned around and followed Bokuto out the door, leaving Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Yachi, Kuroo, and Kenma alone inside.

"Are you guys ready for this?" Kuroo asked.

"Sure." Tsukishima's eyes narrowed as he looked over at the obstacle course.

"Sweet." Kuroo led the way across the room before stopping in front of the course. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi followed, staring up at the two-story-high metal-and-wood framework. It looked like something you’d see at a summer camp, with something that looked like a trapeze above it and what seemed like a zip line coming off the top and leading back down to the ground. There were nets, tightropes, bars, and bridges everywhere.

“I’ll go first, just to show you two how it’s done.” Kuroo walked over to one end, where he climbed up a set of stairs to a wooden platform, where he stood for a second. “Someone time this, I could break the record.”

“There’s a button right above your head.” Kenma crossed his arms from where he stood, back next to Yachi. “Press that when you go, and there’s a sensor that stops the time when you hit the ground again after the zip line.”

“Oh!” Kuroo’s eyes widened as he looked up. “When did that happen?”

“Last month. I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”

Kuroo chuckled before he pushed the button, jumping off the platform onto a net that almost sunk to the ground with his weight. Taking barely a second to regain his balance, he climbed his way across it, eventually making his way to a bridge. After standing up again, the bridge started to tilt as he ran across it, almost throwing him off-balance a few times. He jumped over the last section of the bridge and grabbed the first of a set of monkey bars, swinging his way across them until he got to another bridge that looked like it was made of old tires. Trying to balance as he made his way across them, he almost fell off once, but instead of just falling back onto the ground, he somehow guided his fall so he landed on top of the tires and crawled across them on his knees instead. After reaching the next platform, he climbed up a series of ropes to the second level, where he was met with a series of spinning platforms. Jumping from one to another, he waited until the time was right to jump, and didn’t lose his balance once. Once he got to the last platform, he jumped onto an almost vertical climbing wall and made his way, grabbing the trapeze thing at the top and jumping off, holding onto it as he swung across practically open space until he got to another platform, where he let go of the trapeze and got into a squat. After weaving around a series of metal poles, he leaned forward and grabbed a rope, eventually jumping so he was almost sitting on a large knot in the bottom. The momentum pushed him forward enough for the rope to start down to the ground again, eventually dropping off at a circular black platform on the ground.

Once Kuroo got off, he bowed for the applause that was only coming from Yachi.

“All right.” Kuroo jogged back over and lightly shoved Tsukishima in the shoulder before he went back across the room to stand next to Kenma and Yachi. “Your turn!”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes as he walked over to the first platform. “If I beat your time, don’t start crying in front of me.”

“You won’t!” Kuroo looked over at Kenma with a grin. “You know what to do, right?”

“No.” Kenma shook his head. “I mean, I know, but I’m not doing it. There’s no point.”

“Come on!” Kuroo whined.

Tsukishima had no idea what the two of them were talking about. So much for the secrecy being over after the reveal.

Kenma sighed. “Okay, I’ll try it.”

“Thank you!”

“Hey, Yamaguchi,” Kenma said, “Can you come over here for a sec?”

“Um, yeah.” Yamaguchi shrugged in Tsukishima’s direction before jogging over to join everyone else. “What’s up?”

“Akaashi was telling me about... stuff,” Kenma said, “And he said I could help you test some things out.”

“Really?” Yamaguchi’s eyes brightened. “Thanks!”

“No problem.” Kenma’s eyes narrowed as he looked at him. “This is kind of complicated, so just follow my lead, all right?”

“All right...?” Yamaguchi cocked his head to one side. Yeah, he was confused, too.

“What’s going on?” Tsukishima asked.

“Nothing!” Kuroo just grinned again. That was unnerving. “Just run the course!”

Tsukishima just sighed to himself, pushing the button above his head as he jumped out onto the netting. He landed uncomfortably on his stomach, almost hitting the ground, and it took considerably longer for him to gain his bearings and move on to the next section of the course. Once he got to the bridge, he was already on his stomach, and he knew that there didn’t seem to be any downside to staying there. After all, if his center of gravity was lower, it would be much easier for him to balance, even as the bridge was tilting, so he just decided to stay as close to the center of the bridge as possible. The bridge felt considerably longer now that he was crawling across it himself, but he couldn’t let that stop him. He felt fine, and this wasn’t even that hard.

Once he reached the monkey bars, he was slightly dismayed that he had to get up off his stomach and possibly lose his balance to reach them. Thankfully, he hopped up to his feet without a hitch and seamlessly swung his way across them pretty easily, landing on the first tire in a squat. Instead of getting up again, he stayed low and crawled across them, even if he lost some time in the process. It would be better than falling and losing a lot more.

When he was climbing the ropes, he felt something. He didn’t know what it was, it just felt like the tiniest firework had gone off in his head. He stopped for a few seconds, looking around to see if anything had caused it. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.

But if he’d learned one thing since the May-June turnaround, it’s that if he felt something was off, chances were that it definitely was.

“Hey, Tsukki!” Kuroo crossed his arms and smirked up at him from back down on the floor. “What’s up with you?”

“Don’t call me that,” Tsukishima grumbled, climbing the rest of the way up the ropes. The rest of the course went by fast once he got to the second level, and he went so far as to close his eyes on the trapeze, going calmly through without a hitch. When he grabbed the rope that served as the zip line, he didn’t bother to sit down on the knot. He only grabbed the rope with both his hands and dangled from it as he swung down to the ground again, running off the platform as soon as he landed from the momentum.

As it turned out, he didn’t actually beat Kuroo’s time; he was around four seconds slower. But that wasn’t what he was thinking about as he let go of the rope.

He knew something was wrong once he and Yamaguchi locked equally wide eyes for three painstakingly slow seconds after it was over.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to check me out on tumblr at either my [main blog](http://violinist-tsukki.tumblr.com) or my [writing blog](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com)! If you're interested in updates for this fic, no matter how sporadic they may be, all that info is in the latter's 'mitaosi' tag!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk if I'll post something else before Friday, so if this is it, Merry Christmas! I meant for this chapter to be longer, but oh well. There's going to be angst next chapter.

That night, things started out normal. After getting back to Shinzen, the practice matches continued on just like usual and in the evening, everything else seemed to be the same way. Tsukishima didn't hear anything from Bokuto and Akaashi, so he just assumed that there wasn't a job tonight. And he didn't mind.

But it was definitely weird walking into the third gym before Hinata and Lev got there and seeing that everyone there was involved in what had happened this morning.

“It doesn't look like anything’s happening tonight,” Kuroo called out once Tsukishima walked in. “If something was up, we'd know by now!”

“Good to know.”

“So I guess we should just practice tonight.” Bokuto grinned.

“I'd rather be on a job.” Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

“Wouldn't we all?” Bokuto chuckled, looking around before he frowned. “Where's everyone else? We’re two short.”

“I don't know.” Kuroo shrugged.

“Do either of them know about secret identities or anything?” Akaashi asked, "I never got around to looking into that."

“Lev’s  _ way _ too dense to get it.” Kuroo chuckled. “Kenma and I got pretty close to revealing it a few times and he didn't even notice.” He turned to Tsukishima. “What about Shrimpy?”

“He knows.” Tsukishima nodded. “Don't ask, the circumstances were weird.” 

“Huh.” Kuroo smirked.

“What about the rest of Nekoma?” Akaashi asked, “I knew Yaku-san caught on, but what about everyone else?”

“All the third-years know,” Kuroo said, “Something happened in our first year and it wasn't pretty, but they're not going to tell anyone else.”

“Good.” Akaashi turned to Tsukishima. “What about Karasuno? You said Hinata knows, does anyone else?”

Tsukishima nodded. “Everyone knows. There was something a few months ago and everyone else found out.” He scoffed. “But unless they have a death wish, no one’s going to say anything.”

“How did that happen?” Kuroo asked.

“I thought I said not to ask.”

“Anyway.” Akaashi promptly cut both of them off before he turned to Tsukishima. “So how are things going with Yamaguchi? Has he tried anything out yet?"

"I don't know." Tsukishima shrugged. "He said that he'd try to get a handle on whatever he was doing today and that he'd tell me everything later tonight. I don't know if he's started experimenting or what he's been trying to do."

"He was doing something with Kenma this morning, I think." Kuroo scrunched his eyebrows up in thought. "I'm not sure what it was, though."

"Yeah, I know," Akaashi said, "I told Kenma to go over some of the mental stuff in case anything started coming up, but I didn't get a chance to ask either of them, so I have no idea if it worked."

"Either way, it's pretty exciting, huh?" Kuroo asked. "Everything is changing and you have no idea where things are going to go."

"I know, it really is." Tsukishima frowned.

"You scared?"

"Not really, unless everything goes to shit."

"Who knows, it might." Kuroo shrugged. "Anything can happen."

"Kuroo-san's right," Akaashi said, "It's times like this when power exhaustion tends to happen the most often. I'm sure you have experience with that." He paused. "You know, when someone uses a huge amount of power at one time and they pass out or something afterward."

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about." As far as Tsukishima was concerned, the number of times it had happened to Yamaguchi between late May and right now seemed like way too many, but he had no idea what an average amount was. There was a definite possibility that it could be worse.

“I don’t know about you all,” Bokuto said, “But I think we’ve done too much talking and not enough practicing, am I right?”

“Right!” Kuroo grinned. "The conversation was getting a little grim, anyway."

Before he could say anything else, there was a crash from outside before Hinata ran in, Lev trailing only a small distance behind him and traveling just as fast. They looked like they’d run all the way here from wherever they’d been. 

“Sorry we’re late!” Hinata bowed his head.

“It’s fine!” Bokuto grinned. “We haven’t done anything yet, you two are just in time!”

"Have you guys heard about Saturday?" Lev asked, eyes wide.

"Nope." Kuroo shook his head. "What's happening?"

"I forgot what show it was, but the Miyagi Duo's supposed to be on one of those talk shows on Saturday morning." Lev grinned.

Everyone else shared a look with at least one other person in the gym, tempted to laugh at the inside joke Lev was currently left out of.

"What?" Lev asked, "Why did you guys get all quiet like that?" He gasped. "Are you not excited?"

"No, of course we're excited!" Bokuto said.

"Then what are you guys hiding?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it," Akaashi said.

Lev gave him a skeptical look before bending down to retie his shoe.

"Oh!" Kuroo cut in. "Hey, Hinata!"

"Yeah?"

"Did Kenma tell you about...?" Kuroo trailed off, trying to leave Hinata to figure it out presumably without revealing anything to Lev. "You know…"

Akaashi discreetly pointed at Lev with a chilling hiss of "Kuroo-san!" but Kuroo didn't seem to notice, and if he did, it didn't look like he cared.

"Hm?" Hinata cocked his head to the side for a second before his eyes widened. "Yeah, he told me!"

"What?!" Akaashi asked, quickly covering his mouth as soon as he'd spoken.

"Guys, what are you talking about?" Lev whined. "It's not nice to exclude people, you know!"

"It's nothing, Lev, really." Kuroo chuckled. "I'll tell you later."

Eventually, the conversation shifted into blocking practice, and Tsukishima largely went through it just like he usually did. He usually stayed silent, but if there was an opening for a witty retort to something someone said, he definitely took it. But other than that, he just went through the motions. It was the same as always. 

And then, all of a sudden, something didn't feel right, like when he was on the obstacle course earlier, but this just seemed worse. It wasn't fireworks this time, it was a tiny alarm blaring inside his head that something had happened and that something was  _ bad _ . 

And just like that, it was over. He felt like the string that had been connecting him to whatever was going on had been cut, and it felt like something was missing, though he wasn't sure what. Even though that weird feeling was gone now, something else had taken its place, not quite fear but definitely wariness and trepidation.

"Oi!" Hinata was up in his face when Tsukishima snapped out of the daze he'd somehow been in. Well, as up in his face as Hinata could be, considering his height and that he was on the other side of the net. "What happened?"

"What?"

Hinata crossed his arms. "You were acting weird! You were just kinda staring off into space for a while."

"I was?"

"Yeah, you kind of were." Akaashi's eyes narrowed. "It only lasted for a few seconds, though." He took a breath before turning to Kuroo. "Tell Kenma to text me or talk to me sometime tonight. I have a plan for tomorrow that I need his help with."

"Will do." Kuroo grinned. "I think I know what your plan is."

"Yeah. If everything happens the way I think it will, that's going to be really important later on."

Tsukishima once again had no idea what they were talking about.

"So!" Bokuto put his hands on his hips. "Now that that's over, who's up for playing a little three-on-three?"

Before Hinata could practically squeal in agreement, the gym door slammed open, letting in the cool evening breeze as Noya stood there with one hand on the handle, completely out of breath. Yachi was standing behind him, looking about just as tired as he did. 

"Hey, are you two joining the party?" Bokuto asked. "We'd love to have ya!"

"Maybe later. We're a little busy." Noya spoke quickly before he turned to Tsukishima. "We need you to get over here right now."

"Why? What happened?"

"We'll explain on the way. We don't have time to stand here and talk about it." Noya smiled dryly. "You probably already know what it is."

"No, I actually don't." Tsukishima jogged over to the door.

"Okay, fine." Noya led the way out the door, and Yachi shut it behind them, leaving the three of them in total silence. "Yachi-san told me about how Yamaguchi's particularly prone to overusing his powers and stuff."

"Yeah." Tsukishima nodded. "It's happened twice since the last time you saw it -" He stopped, realizing exactly what Noya was talking about. "It happened again."

"Yeah," Yachi said, "It did."

"I think that's all I need to know." Tsukishima's voice was barely a whisper as he stood there for a second before taking off into a run.

"Hey, wait!" Noya shouted. "It's not as bad as it looks!"

"I don't care." Tsukishima stopped for a second as he turned around to face him. "It doesn't matter if it isn't as bad as it looks, the point is that it happened in the first place, and I need to be there."

He turned back around and started into a sprint, going probably faster than he'd ever run before. Nothing else really mattered besides getting there as fast as he could, and he didn't think he'd feel tired at all when he got there.

He knew this was going to happen. Besides what Kuroo and Akaashi had said earlier, it had happened so many times before now that it was starting to become a pattern, something he could see coming from a mile away. It didn't matter that he couldn't seem to get used to it, or that he hated every single instance it happened, he knew how to deal with it and that’s exactly what he did. Each and every time.

But even so, he wished there was some way to stop all this from happening. He'd probably give up almost anything just to know how to make sure it never happened again, as stupid as that sounded. He hated how scared he was, he hated how his heart pretty much stopped beating right when he knew what was going on, he hated how his breath caught in his throat, and he especially hated how he could rarely do anything about it except stand there and wait for things to sort themselves out. 

But he couldn’t just stand there and wait for things to sort themselves out. He wasn’t even there to begin with, he was just trying to get there before everything got really bad. Who knew? Maybe he was already too late. 

He tried to ignore that particularly terrifying thought as he kept running. He wasn’t too late, how could he be? It had probably only been less than five minutes since it happened, it couldn’t have gotten really bad yet. He was probably just worried because this was the first time this had happened when he wasn’t there to take care of it. Everyone else was probably freaking out because of that.

He stopped at the entrance to the first gym, trying to calm himself down a little bit, at least. He eventually got to the point where he at least didn’t show how nervous he was, even though his heart was probably beating a thousand times a minute.

Damn it, why did he have to be so scared?

He took a deep breath before he walked inside, just waiting for the worst. 

Everything was silent for a few seconds when he walked in. Everyone else looked up at him with wide eyes once his shoes squeaked on the floor, with the sole exception of Suga and Daichi, who were talking to each other in the back.

“Oh, good, you’re here.” Daichi turned around and frowned. "I guess everyone filled you in, judging by how quickly you got here."

"They didn't say exactly what happened, but I don't need to know more than the basics," Tsukishima said, "Where do I need to go?"

"You can just follow me," Suga said, "I think you know how to deal with this better than I do." He sighed as he started walking towards a door in the back corner. "It's been a while, huh?"

"Not for me," Tsukishima said, "It's only been a few weeks."

"So this happens a lot?"

"You could say that."

"I thought it was just a one-time deal." Suga chuckled as he put one hand on the door handle, deciding not to open the door. "Don't freak out, okay? Everything seems fine."

Tsukishima crossed his arms. "I'm not freaking out."

"Your hands were shaking before. And that's okay." Suga frowned. "I'd honestly be doing the same thing."

"Huh."

"But seriously, don't worry. Everything's going to be fine." Suga smiled before taking his hand off the door handle. 

"Wait!" Both of them whipped their heads around to see Yachi running toward them, panting hard as she stopped right behind them.

"What's up?" Suga asked, "Did Daichi tell you anything?"

"No." Yachi shook her head before turning to Tsukishima. "Need any help? I can do whatever you need me to."

"No, it's okay, I -" Tsukishima paused. "I just want to do this alone for now."

"Okay." Yachi nodded. "I'll be out here if you need me, then."

As Suga walked back toward everyone else and Yachi sat down against the wall, Tsukishima grabbed the door handle, hesitating to open it. What was he even going to do? He had no idea.

He sighed, turning the handle as he pulled the door open.

The room was dark when he first walked in. He didn't know what it was used for, but it seemed pretty small. Once he turned on the light, there didn't really seem to be much in the room in the way of furniture, and the room was mostly empty.

Which only made it easier for him to notice Yamaguchi, lying there in the middle of the room, completely unconscious by the looks of it. His eyes were only barely closed, and the expression on his face was completely neutral. He was breathing, which was good, but every breath he took was shallow and shaky, making his body shudder with every exhale. His face was much more pale than usual, almost a weird ghostly shade of white. He didn't just look tired, he looked weak.

"Hey," Tsukishima whispered, closing the door behind him as he walked across the room and sat down right next to Yamaguchi. He wasn't expecting a response, but it wasn’t like he really cared. “Sorry I’m late.”

Things stayed silent for a while after that. Eventually, Tsukishima could feel his heartbeat slowing down, although he didn’t know why. As far as he was concerned, he was still scared as hell. But even though he didn’t know how it was happening, it was nice that he was at least starting to relax a little.

It must have been a few minutes before Yamaguchi’s eyes slowly fluttered open and he sat up, putting his hand to his temple as he frowned. He looked around for a few seconds before he smiled once his eyes landed on Tsukishima. “Hi.”

“You scared me.” Tsukishima crossed his arms.

“I did?” Yamaguchi chuckled, almost inaudibly. “That’s a first!”

“Anyway.” Tsukishima narrowed his eyes. “What happened? No one told me.”

“Really? I thought someone would have.”

“I didn’t think it was necessary to know the details until now.”

“Okay.” Yamaguchi sighed. “You know what Akaashi-san was saying, right? About me getting new powers?”

Tsukishima nodded. “I read the list. Did you get one?”

“Yeah.” Yamaguchi smiled weakly. “Kenma-san said it was one of the worst to start out with, so that’s probably why all this happened, but...” He paused for a second before he shrugged. “I guess I can read minds now.”

“What?” Tsukishima probably froze at that point. “So you know what I’m thinking right now?”

“Probably. Just a sec.” Yamaguchi closed his eyes for a second before opening them again. “Yeah. I think I do.”

“That’s... weird.”

“I know.” Yamaguchi looked down at the ground. “Anyway, I first found out this morning, when you were on the obstacle course. That's why I looked so nervous back there. But..." He sighed. "Basically, what happened is I was trying to test it out tonight, to get some more practice with it. And you know how my control is probably some of the worst in the country, so I couldn’t put a cap on it. I could hear everything that everyone in there was thinking, and I guess that’s what caused this.”

“Oh.” Tsukishima frowned. “Are you all right now?”

“Sort of.” Yamaguchi shrugged. “I’m better than I was before, but I have a pretty bad headache." He giggled. "I guess it was kind of worth it, since I found - oh! I have to tell Yachi-san something!"

His eyes flew wide open, and Tsukishima could easily see that they were practically glowing. It was exactly what happened every other time this happened, but somehow, they seemed brighter now. It was weird, how the seemingly-simple shade of brown looked so inviting when it was lit up.

"Hey, um, Tsukki?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry for freaking you out. I shouldn't have tried to test it here."

"No, it's okay." Tsukishima smirked. "Besides, if you end up using that on jobs and stuff, you're going to be around people who don't know how it works, so maybe it's a good thing." He paused for a second. "You can turn it off, right?"

"Yeah." Yamaguchi nodded. "It takes a lot of energy just to get it to work in the first place, so I probably won't use it for a while. This stuff only happens when I actually start using it in the first place."

"That's good."

"But I'm going to try to get better sometime," Yamaguchi said, "Maybe not when I'm going to scare everyone, but I'm definitely going to -"

His eyelids drooped as he slumped over to the side, and every bit of emotion he was showing seemed to melt off his face. Just before he was about to hit the floor, Tsukishima somehow broke his fall with one arm. Everything stayed like that for a moment, frozen and silent, before Yamaguchi's eyes widened again.

"Sorry!" He looked about as scared as Tsukishima was, which was terrifying in and of itself.

"It's okay, just -" Tsukishima sighed. "Honestly, you're probably just exhausted."

"Yeah." Yamaguchi frowned. "I don't think anyone will care if I get to bed early."

"I'll go with you." Tsukishima shrugged. "I need to walk this off."

"You don't have to go," Yamaguchi said, "I mean, I'm sure you have other things to do."

"Yeah, but none of them are important. And if I go back to the other gym, everyone's just going to interrogate me about this, and I just don't need that right now."

“Okay, true.” Yamaguchi chuckled, slowly making his way up to his feet. “All right, I think I've got this."

"Are you sure?" Tsukishima asked. "Because I could -"

"I'm fine, really." Yamaguchi smiled. "I can definitely make it back to the room from here."

"If you say so." Tsukishima shrugged. "But if anything happens, I'll be -"

Yamaguchi lightly grabbed Tsukishima's hand, winding their fingers together before he squeezed the tiniest bit. "Thanks. Um, for doing this."

"Oh. No problem."

There was an awkward silence between them for a few seconds as they looked up from their hands into each other's eyes. The glow was still there, just as bright as it had been when Tsukishima first noticed it a few minutes ago. 

"Um, we should probably go." Yamaguchi used his other hand to scratch the back of his head before his eyes widened. "You aren't missing any jobs because of me, right?"

"No, there isn't anything tonight." 

"Good." Yamaguchi grinned sheepishly as he started leading the way out of the room. "I thought I would be ruining something."

As they walked back out onto the gym floor, Tsukishima was slightly surprised to see Yachi still sitting right outside the door. She immediately bounced to her feet once she saw them.

"Hi!" Yachi looked over at Yamaguchi with a frown. "Are you okay? This one looked worse than the others."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Yamaguchi nodded. "I have something to tell you, actually."

"Really?" Yachi tilted her head to the side. "What is it? Is it bad?"

"It's not bad." Yamaguchi grinned, leaning over to whisper something in her ear, completely inaudible from where Tsukishima was standing.

Yachi gasped right after he finished, putting one hand over her mouth to hide the smile that followed. "No way. Are you serious?"

"I'm ninety-nine percent sure," Yamaguchi said.

Yachi's eyes brightened as she grinned widely. "That's so awesome." 

"I'll tell you if anything happens."

Yachi looked like she was about to squeal. "Thank you so much, you're the best!"

"No problem." Yamaguchi giggled. "I'm going to head off."

"Okay, see you tomorrow!" Yachi waved before running back across the gym.

"What was that about?" Tsukishima asked, pushing the back door open once he got there.

"She asked me to do something for her and I did. It's kind of a secret." Yamaguchi shrugged, following him outside into the cool summer evening air. "She'll probably tell you if you ask her, though."

"Oh."

They walked together in silence, thankfully not seeing anyone on the way there. It was that weird twilight time of day, when the sun had just about set but it wasn’t really dark yet. The sky was a rainbow of pinks, purples, and oranges, and long dark shadows stretched behind every building. They didn't let go of each other's hands the entire time, and they didn't seem to make anything of it. They kept holding on even when they got inside and started walking up the stairs to their room.

It was weird, standing in the room when nobody else was there. It was completely silent, except for the barely-audible voices of the few people walking around outside, and it was cast in a purple glow from the sunset. The window was open a crack, and a cool breeze was blowing in, ruffling through the clutter that was scattered across the floor. 

“I guess I’m going to go change now.” Yamaguchi shrugged. “You can go back to whatever you were doing, I’m okay.”

“If you’re sure you’re not going to make anything worse.” Tsukishima smirked.  

“I’m sure.” Yamaguchi chuckled, letting go of Tsukishima’s hand in the process. “Don’t worry.”

They stood there for a few seconds, looking right into each other’s eyes, before Yamaguchi hugged Tsukishima tight, burying his face in his shoulder. After a few more awkward seconds, Tsukishima hugged him back. They were both shaking, still filled with the fear and nervousness of everything that had happened, but Yamaguchi felt warm, even though every breath he took seemed to shiver like he was freezing cold.

“Thank you,” Yamaguchi whispered, barely loud enough for Tsukishima to hear. 

“Oh.” Tsukishima’s eyes widened for a second before he let out the breath he was holding. “You’re welcome.”

Yamaguchi was the first one to pull away with a smile. “See you later, I guess.”

“All right.” Tsukishima walked over towards the door. “Bye.”

As Tsukishima walked out of the room and shut the door behind him, the last thing he saw was Yamaguchi waving with a wide grin on his face. That was pretty comforting. 

As he made his way back to the third gym, he was surprised at how relieved he was. He didn’t even know if everything was really okay, but for some reason, he felt like he could worry about that later. He was still a little tense, sure, but he was much more relaxed than he thought he would be after something like this, definitely more than any of the other times this had happened. He still didn't know where it was coming from, but it felt nice.

In the middle of everything, he loved it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on tumblr at either [violinist-tsukki](http://violinist-tsukki.tumblr.com%22) or [hanwritesstuff](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com%22) (the latter's the writing blog, as I'm sure you're all aware by now, and everything about this fic is in the 'mitaosi' tag)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When it's literally less than a week between chapters because this chapter is short and weak _and why is chapter five always the flashback chapter?_
> 
> I realize now that the rest of this is going to be much fluffier than I intended, I apologize. ~~Or maybe not~~

_ The first time was probably Hinata's fault.  _

_ Or maybe it wasn't, and Tsukishima was just trying to cover up that he was the only one to blame. That seemed like a valid explanation.  _

_ But even if none of it was really Hinata’s fault, he’d arguably been the one who cranked everything into overdrive and started this whole thing. Or maybe that had been Kageyama. Who really knew two months after it had happened? _

_ Even though it was two months ago, it was as easy for Tsukishima to remember as if it was yesterday. Like almost everything in that general stretch of time, it was impossible to forget. He was standing in the middle of the Karasuno gym, trying to ignore the combined laughter of Tanaka, Noya, and Hinata while simultaneously wondering how he could have fucked everything up this bad. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have cared all that much if people knew about his secret identity or anything, but these circumstances were anything but normal. The biggest thing was that he was currently without any superpowers whatsoever, and he had no idea if that was going to be temporary or not.  _

_ He  _ really _ didn’t need this. _

_ “So...” Tanaka stopped laughing for a second to grin as he looked right into Tsukishima's eyes. "How did you get yourself wrapped up in all this, anyway? I've gotta say, I'm a little jealous." _

_ "I was asked when I was twelve." Tsukishima shrugged. "That's all there is to it." There was more than that, of course, but he had already given enough away. _

_ "No fair!" Hinata pouted. "Everything always looks so cool on TV!" _

_ "Yeah." Noya crossed his arms. "Is it really as cool as it looks?" _

_ "That's very subjective." Tsukishima frowned. _

_ "Yeah, but do you think it's cool?" _

_ "Depends on the day." _

_ The next few minutes went by in a blur, and that was when the sequence of events started to become less clear. Tanaka and Noya's laughter seemed to fade away along with all the other noise, leaving Tsukishima in a weird sort of silence, save for the pounding echo of rain on the metal roof. Every drop sounded like a mallet against a bass drum.  _

_ Everything seemed to seem to go by like he'd pushed the fast-forward button on time itself, while he stayed back and stayed normal, watching every image fade into the next without him. Tanaka and Noya kept laughing, not noticing that Hinata had stopped after a while. Hinata's eyes were wide as he turned towards the other side of the gym, a wide smile appearing on his face. _

_ Tsukishima didn't have to follow where Hinata was looking to know what was about to happen, but he did anyway. He didn't know why he did, or why he'd ever want to relive it, but he found himself looking at the same scene he'd seen too many times across his math-class daydreams and post-match naps on the bus and whatnot.  _

_ He felt it first. The cold blast of air that seemed like the wind but not quite. It ruffled his hair and sent a shiver up his spine, chilling even after four years. When he closed his eyes, he could easily smell it, too, stronger than ever before, though he wasn't sure why it had a smell in the first place. It smelled like a field of flowers in a rainbow of colors, like freshly-cut lawns, like picnics on warm summer days with the sun beating down. _

_ His eyes shot open again as he snapped back to reality and the cold air surrounded him. The scene was exactly the same as all the other times he'd remembered it. Kageyama was hovering a few feet in the air, clearly not used to the lack of gravity pulling him down to earth as he tried to get his head back in the direction he thought was up. Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita weren't far below him, grinning and laughing as they tried to high-five each other in midair. _

_ And then there was Yamaguchi, standing on the ground with his back facing Tsukishima. His hair looked like it was defying gravity even more than it usually did, and his hands were both out in front of him, shaking just the slightest bit. _

_ “Whoa!” Hinata’s mouth was open in a tiny O. “Yamaguchi, are you doing that?!” _

_ Yamaguchi only barely nodded, not turning around.  _

_ “Can I try?” Hinata asked, eyes wide as he clasped his hands in front of him. “I want to go higher than Bakeyama! Pleeease?” _

_ Tsukishima really should have just punched him right then and there.  _

_ Yamaguchi still didn’t say a word, but he moved one hand a miniscule distance towards Hinata, who almost instantaneously shot up into the air, practically squealing with delight.  _

_ Was Yamaguchi only doing this because Tsukishima couldn’t do anything about it? Was he just doing it because he was the only one who actually had any powers at the moment? _

_ Hinata ended up right above Kageyama, who he just grinned at. “How does it feel to be the short one now, huh?” He laughed in the face of Kageyama’s scowl, saying a bit more before he looked back down at the ground, eyes widening as he looked at Yamaguchi. “Whoa, Yamaguchi, your eyes are glowing!”  _

_ “Really?” Yamaguchi asked.  _

_ Tanaka was the first one to lean over to try and get a better view. “Yeah, they look like they’re going to shoot lasers out of ‘em or something!” _

_ Before Tsukishima even knew it, he was leaning over so far that he thought he’d fall over, even though he knew exactly what he was going to see.  _

_ Tanaka was right - Yamaguchi’s eyes seemed like a much lighter brown than they’d ever been before, like a light was gleaming through them from behind. They had gone from their usual dark chocolate brown to a bright gingerbread color that seemed to shine with an almost supernaturally dazzling sparkle. They were wide open, and they made his already-glistening smile radiate that much more.  _

_ It was definitely up there as one of the most beautiful things Tsukishima had ever seen.  _

_ The demonstration seemed to end immediately after that, when Yamaguchi shakily but slowly managed to get everyone back down to the ground without dropping anyone. His eyes still glowed the entire time, not fading even after the weird feeling Tsukishima got when Yamaguchi did anything like that disappeared entirely. Everything was completely silent for a few seconds as everyone looked around at each other and the air began to get warmer. _

_ “So do you do that a lot?” Noya asked. _

_ Yamaguchi shook his head. “This is the first time I’ve tried using it on anyone beside myself.” _

_ “Wow,” Tanaka said, “You’re good.” _

_ “Thanks.” Yamaguchi chuckled lightly.  _

_ Everything after that went by painstakingly slowly and terrifyingly quickly at the same time. This was the part that was the easiest for Tsukishima to remember, but it was also the part that he hated reliving every time.  _

_ Yamaguchi's eyelids fluttered once or twice as he stared into the distance in a daze for a split-second before he crumpled to his knees, eyes half-lidded even as they continued to glow. He started to lean over to the right, face devoid of emotion as his eyes closed and he hit the floor. He ended up in a half-pile of himself, completely still except for the tiny rise and fall of his chest. _

_ Everything became silent once again. People were probably shouting, or at least Daichi was, and there must have been nervous whispering somewhere, but the only thing that Tsukishima could hear was his own pounding heartbeat in his chest. And even so, he stayed frozen right where he was, because he had no idea what to do. He stayed there with wide eyes even as everyone else gathered around Yamaguchi to see what was the matter. He didn't know if he could do anything. _

_ Even when he tried to move, his legs stayed frozen right where they were, like his feet were superglued to the floor. He wanted to be there with everyone else, he wanted to make sure everything was okay, but he was too scared to even move. What if he did something wrong? What if he revealed too much to everyone else? What if -? _

_ "Hey!" Noya called out. "Why aren't you over here?" _

_ Tsukishima didn't answer. It should have been obvious. He didn't know what to do, he was scared out of his mind, he didn't want to face that this all happened because he was helpless. All reasons that he didn't want to and didn't need to say out loud. _

_ Noya shrugged. "Fine. You can keep secrets, but at least get over here, okay? You know more about this than the rest of us do." _

_ Tsukishima hesitated for a second before he slowly jogged over toward everyone else. The air felt colder once again when he got there, even with the concentration of body heat. _

_ "Is there anything we should do?" Suga asked. _

_ "I don't know." Tsukishima scrunched up his eyebrows in thought. Was there something that had happened before that he could compare this to? _

_ "Should we get out of the way?" Daichi asked, "That might be a good idea." _

_ "Oh." Tsukishima's eyes widened. "Yeah." Never mind that he didn't know what to do. If he could be alone for this, nothing else mattered that much.  _

_ "All right, you heard him!" Noya shot up to his feet first. "Clear out!" _

_ Everyone else slowly cleared out, and conversation started up once again as Tsukishima was left alone with his thoughts and Yamaguchi's unconscious body, with the latter occupying a vast majority of the former. _

_ Aside from what was obviously wrong, Yamaguchi at least looked okay. He looked like he was breathing fine, as the rise and fall of his chest was small, but steady. His skin wasn't cold to the touch like Tsukishima expected, and his hands were especially warm. He didn't seem to be in any pain or anything - he just looked like he was fast asleep. _

_ That was a relief. _

_ But there was still the issue of him not waking up. He was probably going to in a few minutes or so, but for now, he was just lying there. Calm but terrifying at the same time. _

_ How long would it be? How long would Tsukishima have to sit here, waiting for things to be all right again? Would they be all right again? Would he get his powers back and forget all this?  _ Could  _ he forget this? Why was he so -? _

***

Tsukishima sat bolt upright in bed as his eyes shot open, heart beating deafeningly loud. He didn't know anything about what time it was except that it was a time when he shouldn't have been awake at all. It was dark, and he could barely see a foot in front of him. The only source of light was the moon shining behind the closed curtains in front of the window, and even that wasn't nearly bright enough to do anything with.

He sighed, blinking a few times as his eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness. He didn't bother looking at everyone else sleeping around the room and focused on the analog clock in the back, which looked like it read three o’clock. Or maybe twelve-fifteen. He couldn’t really tell. Either way, he was right - he really shouldn’t have been awake right now.

He lay back again, letting his head hit the pillow as he stared up at the ceiling. Most of the time, his dreams had been taken up by his somewhat distorted memories of one of the four power exhaustion sequences, and the first one naturally occurred the most often. He wasn't surprised that it would come up again tonight, especially with how worked up he was about everything. He just didn't want it to. Experiencing one in one day was more than enough.

He should have just asked Akaashi or someone for advice, instead of going back and acting like nothing was wrong. Hell, Kuroo and Bokuto would have known enough about this to help. They probably had enough personal experience with it to know how to deal with it easily. This had probably happened to either Kuroo or Kenma not too long ago. How else would Akaashi know that it was bound to happen tonight?

Tsukishima turned onto his stomach and groaned into his pillow. He wasn't going to get back to sleep anytime soon, and he couldn't do anything except lie there and think about the exact thing that was preventing him from doing so. It was hell.

It was a few more minutes of just waiting there before he turned onto his back again, finding that much more comfortable. He stared up at the white ceiling above his head - it was probably beige or something, but he couldn't tell in the dark - and looked at all the speckles of paint, the cracks stretching across the room.

He felt something latch onto his arm, but instead of freaking out like he expected himself to, he was filled with this weird peaceful feeling, suddenly completely calm despite the circumstances.

He wasn't in any way surprised to see that it was Yamaguchi who'd rolled over and latched onto his arm. He had a tiny smile on his face, almost unnoticeable but definitely there, as he lay there, probably completely unaware of what he was doing.

Tsukishima hadn't bothered to tell him yet, since all in all, he didn't really mind.

He didn't really know why, but instead of pushing him off, Tsukishima slowly tried to pry Yamaguchi's fingers off of his arm before taking that same arm and wrapping it around Yamaguchi's shoulder. Yamaguchi didn't wake up or anything; he just seemed to lean over so he was pressed up against Tsukishima’s chest and his head was resting on Tsukishima's shoulder, which felt... nice.

After that, everything only felt more serene. Everything was quiet, except for the sounds of hushed breathing from everyone across the room, and the entire room was still, filled with a tranquil kind of silence. After a few more minutes of staring up at the ceiling - or maybe it was an hour, time passed in a weird way when there wasn’t anything to do - Tsukishima surprisingly found himself starting to drift off, barely able to keep his eyes open even as everything still raced through his mind at breakneck speeds. 

It was the same feeling he’d had back when he was walking here with Yamaguchi earlier. He was scared as hell, sure, but he was relieved at the same time. It felt nice, being able to relax when the world was spinning ever faster around him. He didn’t know where it came from, though, but he could worry about that later. 

As he closed his eyes, he had the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. He could worry about everything later. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk I kind of wanted to try a part of [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4237875/chapters/10910576) from tsukki's pov did it work? i don't know
> 
> If you're reading this, you probably know I'm on tumblr at [violinist-tsukki.tumblr.com](http://violinist-tsukki.tumblr.com) or my writing blog [hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com) but I'm just going to keep up with it.
> 
> Oh, if you liked this chapter, there's a [post](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com/post/136069537912/title-coherence-in-the-age-of-secret-identities) that you can reblog if you so desire!
> 
> Comments and kudos and whatnot are always appreciated, I'm just a lonely nerd craving attention ;_;


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you know? This chapter has exactly 5000 words.
> 
> I hope y'all like break because that means more updates because I'm bored and I have nothing better to do! ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Also, just a heads up: next chapter is going to be fluffy, sappy, and stupidly romantic.
> 
> Happy new year! <3
> 
>  
> 
> ~~I wanted to write this scene forever, but it turned out horribly oops~~

The ride back to headquarters the next morning was surprisingly quiet, considering that it involved Bokuto and Kuroo sitting next to each other in a completely-packed van. This was the alternative to the limo that served as transportation on the first day, and while the van wasn't nearly as luxurious, Tsukishima didn't really mind, as long as he was in the back, behind the wall of chairs that made up the middle row.

He was sitting on the left side of the car, with Yamaguchi in the middle seat and Yachi on the right. Akaashi was directly in front of him, with Bokuto sitting between him and Kuroo, and Kenma was riding shotgun. The driver was Ishizuka from before, who only seemed to be paying attention to the road and not to the other people in the car.

Tsukishima was still tired, even though he eventually got to sleep fine last night. It was probably just the stress from everything else last night that was taking a toll on him. He tried to tell himself that everything was fine, but while his mind seemed to get the message, the butterflies in his stomach clearly didn't.

He didn't know what was in store for today. The interviews and talk show appearances didn't start until tomorrow, so he didn't know why he was here and not back at Shinzen. He figured there was a reason for that.

Yamaguchi had fallen back asleep a while ago, practically as soon as he sat down, and he was leaning on Tsukishima's shoulder again. Maybe that was why everyone else was so quiet. Even though Yamaguchi was a particularly heavy sleeper who could probably sleep through the apocalypse if he was tired enough.

Before Tsukishima could get a chance to stare out the window, his phone buzzed in his hand with a text from Yachi, even though she was sitting within talking distance.

 

From: Yachi

6:03 AM

I forgot to tell you something last night and I don't want to wake Yamaguchi-kun up so text me! (◕‿◕)

 

When Tsukishima looked over at her, she just shrugged without saying a word. He didn't have anything to lose by texting her, so he typed out a reply.

 

To: Yachi

6:03 AM

Ok sure what is it

 

From: Yachi

6:04 AM

You have to promise not to tell anyone about this, it's kind of a secret

 

To: Yachi

6:04 AM

I won't and btw yamaguchi could probably sleep through a rock concert if he wanted to

 

From: Yachi

6:04 AM

Lol okay

 

Yachi sighed as her fingers hovered above the keyboard for a few seconds before she started typing, although it took a long time for Tsukishima to get the message.

 

From: Yachi

6:06 AM

Okay so right after he told me about his powers and stuff last night I asked Yamaguchi-kun to find out what everyone thought of me (like if I'm an okay manager and stuff) and he said he was going to try to test it out anyway so he did and basically I kind of freaking out because according to him Shimizu-senpai thinks I'm cute

 

From: Yachi

6:06 AM

I know that probably sounds weird but yeah just thought you should know so it wouldn’t be awkward later (￣▽￣*)ゞ

 

Tsukishima didn't know how to reply. If he said something like "you two seem cute together" it probably wouldn't sound sincere, but he didn't really have any ideas for what else to say.

 

To: Yachi

6:07 AM

Good luck with that

 

From: Yachi

6:07 AM

Thanks!!

 

From: Yachi

6:07 AM

But I kind of feel bad about it, like everything last night was my fault or something (／。＼)

 

And here Tsukishima was, blaming himself for not being there in time to stop it. He supposed everyone probably felt like they'd had something to do with it.

 

To: Yachi

6:08 AM

Idk I think everyone feels bad about it

 

From: Yachi

6:08 AM

Especially you, right?

 

To: Yachi

6:08 AM

Maybe

 

Yachi giggled from her seat before she started typing out a reply.

 

From: Yachi

6:09 AM

Don't worry about it! You did everything right last night, trust me!!! (⌒‿⌒)

 

"Hey, Akaashi-san?" Yachi asked, putting the phone down as she looked up at him.

"Hm?" Akaashi turned around from his seat.

"What are we doing today?" Yachi frowned. "I don't think it said anything on the schedule."

"There were a few things I wanted to add in." Akaashi shrugged. "It shouldn't take very long."

"There's some stuff I want to do, too." Kuroo turned around with a grin. "But it's not bad, promise."

"And since there wasn't a job yesterday, there's definitely going to be one tonight," Bokuto added, "I don't know what's up with all of you, but I'd recommend coming along for the ride. It's usually a party."

Tsukishima couldn't lie, he'd been interested in what jobs were like around here ever since he could remember seeing Team Tokyo on TV as a kid. He'd always wondered what it would be like to fly through busy city streets and to stand on top of skyscrapers, and while Sendai delivered that to an extent, it wasn't the same. He was admittedly excited for this to finally be happening.

"All right." Yachi nodded. "Thank you!"

"No problem!" Bokuto grinned. "So, when do all your publicity stunts start?"

"Tomorrow, I think," Yachi said.

Tsukishima chose that moment to stare out the window as everyone else kept talking. He was getting the urge to fall asleep again, although it was probably just because it was so early in the morning. Besides, he'd slept for the drive over every other day, why stop now?

He felt his limbs get impossibly heavy as he started to relax, sinking into the seat as he wondered once again what this weird feeling was. His eyelids started to droop as he thought it over, and before he knew it, he was fast asleep once again, just as he made a random guess.

He'd check if he'd guessed right when he got there.

 

***

 

"Um, Akaashi-san?" Tsukishima asked, awkwardly standing in the doorway as Akaashi walked back into the room to grab something off the desk.

"Yeah?" Akaashi turned around, head cocked to the side.

"Do you still have the files from yesterday?"

"They should still be here." Akaashi leaned over to open one of the drawers in the desk. "Any particular reason you need them?" He smirked. "Or do you just want to know what you're in for?"

"Both, I guess." Tsukishima shrugged. "I wanted to look into something after last night."

Akaashi nodded, handing him what looked like a typical manila folder. "Your file should still be there, too, if you wanted to see that. But would I be right to say that you're not really interested in yourself right now?"

"Yeah," Tsukishima said, sitting down on one of the couches to look at the file. “You would be.”

“Thought so.” Akaashi grabbed a laptop off the desk before he started walking out of the room. "I'm going to be in the gym with everyone else. You know the way, right?"

"Not quite, but I'll find it."

"Well, you turn right once you get out of here, then go down the second hallway on the left and it should be at the end of that hallway." Akaashi paused for a second. "And you can just leave the files on my desk when you leave."

"All right. Thanks."

"No problem. Good luck." Akaashi walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, leaving Tsukishima alone in complete silence.

Before opening the folder, he took his phone out of his bag, along with his headphones, which he put on his head, plugging the cord into his phone. He could probably focus better with something playing in the background, especially in an unfamiliar location like this. After pressing the shuffle icon in his music library a few times, he landed on a song from some video game that he'd found when he was browsing around on YouTube one day last year.

Now that he could focus more easily, he opened the folder, surprised to find his own picture smiling back up at him. He was probably around twelve when the picture was taken - he didn't think he'd grinned that wide once since then - and he was wearing a hoodie that hung like a sheet over his lanky frame. He was surprised that they hadn't updated the picture since then, since over the three-or-some years since this was taken, he'd changed so much that if it weren't for the obvious similarities in his appearance, someone would think the boy in the picture and the boy sitting on the couch now were two different people.

After staring for a few seconds, he turned to the next page to find an equally-old picture of Yamaguchi, probably taken at around the same time. His eyes were closed, and he looked like he was laughing at something behind the camera. He was grinning, too, and his smile looked like it was shining - everything about him looked like it was shining lately, but Tsukishima hadn't noticed it went back so far.

But the picture wasn't what he was here to see. He quickly scrolled through the information listed next to it before arriving at the bulleted list of "Potential Capabilities" at the bottom of the page. He was glad to see that he'd been right and that each of the six bullet points had a little description. Just what he needed to figure this out. His eyes shot directly to the paragraph starting with "mental manipulation", and he hoped that he'd be right again.

"This can either be limited or almost unlimited in its scope," he read aloud, "It also may start with developing the ability to control specific brain functions, especially individual emotions such as love, happiness, and rage. For this specific subject, the most likely first option based on past family experience is the development of serenity inducement, in which the user can instill feelings of peacefulness and relaxation in their target. Another potential but more advanced aspect of this ability is that of inducing sleepiness in the target, with the user possibly able to make their target fall asleep on the spot."

Bingo. Yamaguchi was definitely behind that, which was surprising but nice to know. It was at least something Tsukishima had an explanation for, even if he knew jack shit about everything else. Everything made even more sense when he thought about Yamaguchi's lack of control, too, and while that was slightly worrying, Yamaguchi said he was going to work on it, and there wasn't any good reason why Tsukishima wouldn't believe that he'd figure all that out.

He stood up, closing the folder with a final look at his admittedly adorable twelve-year-old face, and walked over to drop it off on Akaashi's desk before opening the door and walking out of the room. After almost making a wrong turn, he made his way to the gym, quietly slipping in to stand between Yamaguchi and Akaashi.

"Well, look at that!" Bokuto leaned over and grinned. "Looks like we're all here!"

"What do we do now?" Yachi asked.

"I think we're going to split up from here...?" Akaashi looked around at everyone else, who nodded with varying degrees of enthusiasm. "Yeah. Yachi-san, you're coming with Bokuto-san and I."

"Oh, what are we doing?"

"I'm showing you how backup works, in case things get busy around here later." Akaashi led her out of the gym and back down the hallway.

"Yeah, um, Yamaguchi, you're with me," Kenma said, starting to walk towards the door.

"Okay." Yamaguchi yawned. "What are we doing?"

"Just going over stuff." Kenma shrugged, pushing the door open. "Last night was a lot to take in, huh?"

Yamaguchi scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess so - wait, how do you know what happened?"

Kenma gave a tiny smile and pointed to his own head. "That's why we're working together."

"Oh!" Yamaguchi followed him out the door, their conversation dying down as they got further away.

"So, want to start out with a little harmless sparring?" Kuroo asked. Tsukishima didn’t even notice him walk up behind him.

"I think that I should know what's going on before you do anything." Tsukishima crossed his arms. "Everyone else already said what they were going to do, and I think you have more to say than you're letting on."

"Okay, fine!" Kuroo laughed. "Akaashi wanted me to go over how to deal with power exhaustion and stuff, since I'm the person here who knows the most about that. And then I wanted to ask you a thing or two myself."

"Like what?" Tsukishima asked.

"I'll say more when we get there. It isn't really that important right now." Kuroo shrugged before breaking out into a grin. “How about that sparring match, huh? One-on-one, first man down wins?"

"How confident are you that you're going to win?"

"Pretty confident, considering you haven't been doing this too long. Your attacks look pretty messy." Kuroo laughed. "Don't worry, I'm just messing with you. Messy isn't always a bad thing." His eyes narrowed. "But yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm going to win this thing."

Tsukishima smirked. "Prepare to be disappointed."

"Okay, then!" Kuroo grinned. "No boundaries beside the walls, no-holds-barred." He took a step back, putting his hands out in front of him. "Starting right now."

They both jumped back, probably trying to formulate a plan of attack. Well, that's what Tsukishima was doing, anyway. He never had any time to do this in an actual fight, but since there was an option to actually think about things instead of just relying on instinct, he was gladly going to take it.

The shockwave was usually a good first option for things like this when he didn't know what his opponents' strengths and weaknesses were - come to think of it, he really should have asked what Kuroo and Kenma could do before this - and it always swept them off their feet. Plus, it was incredibly easy to use, now that he had more experience with it.

He closed his eyes, trying to feel the energy around him, trying to connect to it. The gym was full of it, and the floor was lined with a carpet of particles waiting to be charged. If he could just get to one of them, the ripple effect would take over the rest, sending a shockwave of electrical energy across the floor. He tried to focus on one particle right by his left foot, trying to send a spark towards it through his left hand.

Just as he felt his spine tingle from the spark being generated in his head, everything stopped, like the energy was cut off somewhere. The bright lights shining against his eyelids suddenly darkened to pitch black, like he was standing in the middle of nowhere at midnight. He felt like something was constricting his movement, too, like a thick rope was tied around his waist. He felt his heartbeat race, felt his breaths get faster and more shallow, and he didn't know where any of this was coming from, much less how to stop it.

His eyes flew open, only to see a cloud of foggy darkness surrounding him entirely, so much so that he was unable to see through it. He also noticed what was keeping him from moving, which was a band of something dark and cloudy tied around his waist, holding his arms tightly to his sides. It looked like it was pretty flexible, but it held tight and firm, restricting every attempt he made to wriggle out of it. Just as he was about to look up to see if he could make out anything else, something dark black flew into his eyes and he blacked out.

A few seconds later, he could see again, although everything was still a little dark around the edges of his vision for another minute. He had fallen to his knees at some point and was now in the middle of a coughing fit on the gym floor, which stopped fairly quickly afterward. The dark clouds surrounding him had faded away, along with the makeshift rope, and the fluorescent gym lights were shining down brighter than ever.

"Well, I guess this means I win that one." Kuroo offered a hand from where he was standing a few feet away. "But sorry about that, I didn't know you would take it that badly."

"What the hell even _was_ that?" Tsukishima declined the hand and pushed himself unsteadily up to his feet.

"I guess I never told you what I can do, so -" Kuroo shrugged. "I can control darkness, basically. Make solid constructs out of it, fill places with it, the whole spiel." He chuckled. "I can also control people's' movements through their shadows, and I wish you'd lasted long enough to see that."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't." Tsukishima rolled his eyes. "Was there a point to all that or what?"

"Not really," Kuroo said, "And in case you were wondering, Kenma's telepathic, and he can control minds and he has a supernatural knack for computers."

"Good to know."

"Anyway, now that the warm up's over, let's get onto the real reason we're here, shall we?" Kuroo walked over to the unoccupied back wall of the gym, where he sat with his back up against it. "Akaashi didn't really tell me what to say about all this power exhaustion stuff, so I guess he just wanted me to talk about what I know -" He paused, narrowing his eyes at Tsukishima. "Are you going to get any closer? Because I don't want to shout all this stuff, it's less meaningful that way."

Tsukishima walked over and sat down against the wall about ten feet down. He didn't feel the need to get super chummy, not when they were talking about one of the few things he was absolutely terrified of.

"So, anyway, you might be wondering how I could possibly be qualified to teach a crash course on how to deal with all this," Kuroo continued, "And basically, it's because it's happened to me more than once. It was mostly in elementary school, sure, and it hasn’t happened at all since my first year of high school, but it still happened, and it gave me nightmares for months." He laughed, dry and humorlessly. "You're probably going to want to kill me for saying this, but you're lucky that it never happened to you."

"How the hell am I _lucky_?" Tsukishima asked, sitting up completely straight as he glared at him. "If anything, it's even worse because I still have no idea what's going on."

"Good point, but -" Kuroo sighed. "No one else ever has to worry about you, you know?" He paused. "Well, I wouldn't know, but I assume that's the case."

"I guess."

"But I can't lie, you've got it especially bad."

"Why's that?"

"Dealing with mental stuff is a lot harder than dealing with physical stuff," Kuroo said, "I guess it’s that you usually can’t see it coming. That's what I had to deal with in middle school. It's tough. But!" He grinned. "These things usually stop after a while, and it hasn't happened for a few years on our end, but I suspect you're going to have quite a few more instances of it on your hands sooner or later, so I have a few tips for you."

"...Okay, but how do I stop it from happening at all?" Tsukishima asked, "I don't really care about what I should do, I just don't want to have to worry about it anymore."

"Well..." Kuroo chuckled. "It's kind of complicated. You can't really stop it from happening."

"What the fuck?" Tsukishima could hear his heart start pounding, even as he tried his hardest to get it to stop. "What do you mean, I can't really stop it? There has to be a way, right?"

"There isn't, unfortunately." Kuroo shook his head. "At least, not as far as we know. And even if there was, things like this are some of the only ways we can grow. Do you want to stop that?"

"No, but - that doesn't even make any sense." What kind of bass-ackwards bullshit was that?

"It really doesn't, but think about it." Kuroo crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling. "For this to happen, we have to use a lot of power, more than we've ever used before, or at least more than we're used to. After that, it's easier for us to get used to using that much power, and we start using it on a regular basis."

"Yeah, I sort of understand that, but why?"

"Honestly, I don't know."

Tsukishima sighed. "The thing is, I don't see why everyone has to get exponentially better like that. Things are fine just the way they are, so why do they have to change at all?"

"Try saying that in a few years when you've fallen behind and you're struggling to keep up with everything Yamaguchi can do." Kuroo laughed. "You really don't get what you're actually saying, do you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're just scared, and honestly, you have every right to be. You're right that power exhaustion is more scary to watch than to go through yourself, and you just want it all to end because you don't want to see anyone you care about almost dying right in front of you." Kuroo's eyes widened. "Whoa. That was loaded."

"Yeah, yeah, so what? What do I do about it?"

"Well, if that's what you want to know, there's not a lot you can really do to change things, but it never hurts to be a human care package." Kuroo paused, scrunching his eyebrows up in thought. "Like bringing food is usually a good bet, watching crappy movies - oh!" He grinned. "It depends on the person, of course, but with someone like Yamaguchi, hugs are probably going to be your best friend. Give a ton of those, because it's nice and you'll feel great afterward, trust me." Kuroo let out a breath. "Which brings me to my next point."

"And what's that?" Tsukishima narrowed his eyes, trying to find something on Kuroo's face that might have said what tone this would take, before giving up when he realized he was horrible at reading people. There was nothing that showed any kind of emotion or anything.

"I gave you a bit of advice, now it's only fair that you give some to me, because I kind of need it."

"Why me?"

"Because you happen to be here, and Bokuto is just as clueless as I am," Kuroo said.

"Okay, fine." Tsukishima leaned back against the wall as he rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"

"How did you and Yamaguchi get together?"

" _What_?" Tsukishima was glad he wasn't eating or drinking anything, because he would have spit it out. Or choked on it. He couldn't have heard that right. It was such a stupid question, and it was just so out there that Kuroo couldn't have asked it. There was no way. "What are you talking about - where did you even get that?"

"I'm just asking!"

"Well, I don't know, because it's not like that."

"All right, if there was a misunderstanding, then I'm sorry." Kuroo laughed. "I was kind of just going off you two holding hands in here yesterday."

As much as Tsukishima hated to admit it, Kuroo definitely had at least a sliver of a point.

"Even if that was the case, which it is _not._ " Tsukishima glared at him, trying to hide the blush that was slowly spreading across his cheeks. "Why would you want to know? What use could you possibly have for that information?"

Kuroo sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. "Well, I've been thinking about asking Kenma out for a while now, and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do."

"Oh."

"Yeah. You at least look like you know what you're doing, so I thought I'd ask." Kuroo shrugged. "But if you have anything, I'd be glad to hear it."

"I told you, I don't know. And if I did have something for you, it would be really shitty."

"Fine. If you really only know as much as I do, then I won't ask you for specifics." Kuroo looked up at the ceiling, a tiny smile spreading across his face. “But what’s the most cheesy, cliche thing you can think of?”

“Are you really going that route?”

“It wouldn’t be weird if I did it.”

“True.” Tsukishima crossed his arms. “Ask after a job or something, I have no idea.”

Kuroo brought his hand up to his chin like he was stroking an invisible goatee. “It’s not much, but it’s a start.” He chuckled. “This is gonna be good.”  

"So are we done?" Tsukishima asked. He wanted all this awkward conversation to be over with so he could move on and forget about it. Hell, he liked the sparring much better than this, since at least then, he didn't have to think about all this weird shit.

"Not quite," Kuroo said, leaning back against the wall. "If there's a job tonight, which there probably will be, you really don't have to go."

"But Akaashi-san said -"

"I know, he says we need all the help we can get, but that's only once in awhile. Usually, Kenma and I are more than capable of handling this on our own."

"Oh." Tsukishima looked out in front of him, not focusing on anything in particular. "But why wouldn't I want to?"

"After everything last night, no one thinks it's safe for Yamaguchi to be on a job. It isn't a good idea for anyone to be out there right after something like that. So if you want to stay back with him, no one's going to stop you." Kuroo snickered. "Except maybe Akaashi, but don't worry about him."

"Okay." Tsukishima nodded, trying to think about what he would end up doing. On one hand, he was excited for this, and he had been for a while. He'd always wanted to go out on a job here, where the environment was so busy and where you could stand on top of some of the tallest buildings anywhere and see the world spread out down below. But on the other hand, he was definitely still worried after last night. Really, he'd been worried ever since that first happened back in May, at varying degrees of intensity on different days. So there was merit in staying back, too, if only to relax a little.

"You have all day to decide what you want to do, so come on." Kuroo stood up and started walking toward the doors.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting coffee. It's early and I have no energy right now." Kuroo pushed the door open. "It's just in the other room, so stay here for as long as you want."

He closed the door behind him as he left, leaving Tsukishima on his own once again, sitting against the wall and wondering what the hell just happened. His mind was racing all over the place, and he couldn't organize his thoughts whatsoever.

It was way too early for this.

There was no way to stop power exhaustion from happening. That was probably the thing that was weighing him down the most. It was supposed to end sooner or later, but he didn't know when that would be, or how long he'd have to worry about it for every waking second. He didn't want to have all this stress build up inside him on every job he ever went on, and he sure as hell didn't want the fear that something like that would happen when he couldn't do anything about it. Was it so wrong to just want this entire thing to be what it was before? It was always described as just two best friends taking on the world, why couldn't it just be that again?

He brought his knees up to his chest and buried his face in them, trying not to think about what Kuroo had said about him and Yamaguchi. But of course, trying not to think about it only made him think about it more, which brought the subject of his thoughts right back to that rooftop in June. He could remember the little things just as easily as he could the big ones: the wind whipping across his face making his cheeks redder than they already were, the light show of car headlights and traffic lights down on the street, the indigo clouds against the almost-black night sky.

But no matter how much he tried not to think about it, the kiss always seemed to get right back to the front of his mind. If he closed his eyes, he could practically relive it again, butterflies and all. His mind's eye saw all the details clearly, like he was looking at a photograph. He remembered the tip of his sneakers just barely touching the ground, and he remembered being scared that he'd just float off. He remembered his heart pounding louder than anything else, even the seemingly-continuous car horns down below. He remembered how soft Yamaguchi's hair felt when he ran his hands through it, and how his lips felt even softer.

Tsukishima opened his eyes again, sitting straight and rigid. He looked around the gym, trying to clear his head and maybe think of something, you know, _besides_ kissing his best friend. He was glad that he was alone in here and that no one was around to see him blushing like a freaking strawberry.

He had never drank coffee in his life, but damn, at a time like this, he really needed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't post tumblr stuff because it's in all the previous chapters but [here's](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com/post/136367040737/title-coherence-in-the-age-of-secret-identities) the post you can reblog if you liked it! 
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are always appreciated! (Seriously, tell me _anything_ , I will be overjoyed)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not naming my chapters this time around, but if I was, this one would be called "Go Big or Go Home".
> 
> Yeah, this gets sappy and romantic and over the top after a while, and I'm sorry I didn't update sooner! Homework is a thing and my literature class has no mercy. 
> 
> Also I listened to the fourth movement of [Brahms Symphony No. 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyixZraAIG8) for around half the time I wrote this. ~~I'm such a nerd~~

Home base, as everyone else called it, was quiet that night, at least before everything started. There was a Murphy bed that Tsukishima had never noticed before, which was now down on the floor. Kenma was sitting on top of it, playing a video game, while Kuroo was scrolling through something on his phone on one of the couches. Bokuto, Akaashi, and Yachi were nowhere to be found, probably actually doing something productive wherever they were. Everything was silent except for the various noises coming from Kenma's game.

Tsukishima still had no idea what he was going to do. He could go, or he could stay back, and while it seemed like a simple choice, it turned out to be anything but if he thought about it. There were pros and cons of each option, and he found himself constantly drifting between his choices, not really ever deciding on one or the other.

"Hey, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi plopped down right next to Tsukishima on the couch, holding a box of Pocky in his hand. “Want one? Apparently, Kuroo-san and Bokuto-san have an entire stash in here.”

“Oh.” Tsukishima paused for a second before he shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”

“Okay, if you say so!” Yamaguchi opened the box before he leaned back against the back of the couch. “I’m not going tonight, so it’s not like I really have anything to do besides eating everything they have.”

“Right.” Tsukishima frowned. According to Akaashi, there was a policy that if someone suffered from power exhaustion, they couldn't go out on any jobs the next day. It was a good idea, but it was still weird to be going out without Yamaguchi on backup.

“What, you’re gonna miss me?” Yamaguchi giggled. “I’ll miss you, too.” He sighed. “I really wanted to go tonight, but things just happen, I guess.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Kuroo shouted from across the room. “There’s probably going to be something else tomorrow!”

“Great!” Yamaguchi’s eyes lit up  before he turned back to Tsukishima again. “So what did you do this morning?”

Tsukishima tried as hard as he could not to start blushing again while Kuroo tried not to snort in the background. “N-nothing much.”

Yamaguchi cocked his head to the side. “Huh.” He just smiled, probably completely oblivious to all the weird things Tsukishima was feeling at the moment. 

Before he could say anything else, the door slammed open and hit the wall with a loud bang. Bokuto stood in the doorway, with Yachi right behind him, holding his phone in the hand that wasn’t grabbing the doorknob. 

“What’s up?” Kuroo asked, looking up from his phone. 

“Akaashi says for everyone to come to the control room A.S.A.P.” Bokuto grinned. “Looks like there’s a job tonight!”

“Sweet!” Kuroo pumped his fist in the air as he stood up, dropping his phone on the couch.

“Should I just stay here?” Yamaguchi asked, “I mean, I’m not going, so...” He trailed off. 

Bokuto was silent for a second before he nodded with a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Sorry."

"It's okay." Yamaguchi looked down at the floor. "I shouldn't have been messing around with stuff last night, it's my fault."

There was another awkward silence that seemed to last forever. Everyone stared at someone else, with the sole exception of Yamaguchi, who kept his eyes focused right at the floor. It was a while before Kuroo cleared his throat, stretching his arms above his head. 

“Well, then I guess the rest of us should get going.” He started walking over towards the door. “After all, the people of this fair city need us, don’t they?”

As Kenma and Tsukishima got up and started walking toward the door, Kuroo whispered something in Bokuto's ear, completely inaudible from where Tsukishima was standing. After a few seconds, Bokuto nodded, laughed, and whispered something back. Kuroo grinned.

After Yachi said a quick goodbye to Yamaguchi, she closed the door behind her, taking up the rear as everyone else walked through the hallway. The so-called control room wasn't very far at all, only maybe two doors down, and it only took a few seconds to walk down there. 

“Hey, Akaashi!” Bokuto waved with a grin as he pushed the door open. 

“Hi.” Akaashi didn’t look up from the computer he was sitting in front of. He sat in one of three chairs that were set up in front of a particularly long desk.

“So what are we up to tonight?” Kuroo asked, “Is it a big one?”

“No, it’s definitely on the easier end of things.” Akaashi frowned. “It’s almost weirdly easy considering there wasn’t anything yesterday and it’s summer vacation, but I’m not complaining.”

“Well, neither am I.” Kuroo grinned. “Should we just get changed and ask questions later?”

“Yeah, that seems like a good idea.” Akaashi nodded. 

Kuroo and Kenma walked toward the corner of the room side by side, each grabbing a neatly-folded pile of something before they walked right back out. Bokuto and Yachi both sat down in the other two chairs right next to Akaashi's. Each section of the desk had a PC on top of it, along with a pair of headphones. 

While everyone else was going through the routine just like they usually would, Tsukishima still didn't know what to do. If he was standing here, that meant he'd decided to go on the job tonight, but he still wasn't sure about it. Something felt wrong about going, even if it was what he'd really wanted to do while he was here, which was a description that didn't really apply to much else. He just wanted to pick the choice that he'd regret less later on, but he didn't have a clue what that choice was.

"Is something wrong?" Akaashi asked, snapping him out of the river of thoughts coursing through his head.

"No." Tsukishima shook his head. "Everything's fine, just -" He stopped, realizing exactly what he needed to do. "Can I take tonight off?"

Akaashi raised an eyebrow. "I don't see a problem with it. I'm sure there's going to be another job before the trip ends, so I think skipping this one won't change much."

"Tonight's just not your night, huh?" Bokuto chuckled. "Don't worry about it. Besides, people would be suspicious if they saw you on your own out there, right?"

"I'll be here if anything goes wrong." Tsukishima started walking toward the door. "Just let me know."

"All right," Akaashi said.

"Bye!" Bokuto waved.

As Tsukishima walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, he tried to tell himself that this was the right move. There would always be another job, even if it was back home after this trip was over. But everything that had anything to do with what happened last night was much more important than any job he could ever go on, even if it was one here. Location didn't matter, but Yamaguchi definitely did. 

"Tsukishima-kun!"

Tsukishima turned around to see Yachi running toward him, eventually stopping right in front of him, standing there for a few seconds before she sighed. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Tsukishima asked.

"I know you wanted to go tonight." Yachi looked down at the ground. "If I hadn't been so selfish last night, none of this would have happened."

"It's not your fault. Yamaguchi was going to test it out even if you didn't ask him to, this would have happened either way." Tsukishima shrugged. "And as for the job, I can go later. No one thinks tonight's going to be the last one."

"Yeah." Yachi nodded. "Um, I don't think anyone would care if I stayed back with you. I mean, I'd only do it if you wanted to, but -"

"No, you should be with everyone else." Tsukishima frowned. "They've already lost me, you should try to make up for it."

"Okay."

"And I'll be on standby in case things get really bad." Tsukishima turned around and started walking back down the hall. "I told Akaashi-san to let me know."

"Wait."

"Hm?"

"I know this has been really hard on you, and I -" Yachi smiled. "I'm here if you need anything. I know you're supposed to be the one on backup, but I guess I am, too. Just tell me if you need me, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks."

"No problem." Yachi giggled. "Everyone's right, you are an entirely different person on the job."

"What?"

"You haven't noticed?"

"Not really, no."

"Well, you can be really sweet sometimes," Yachi said, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she smiled. "It's kind of weird, but it's not a bad thing."

"Oh." Tsukishima had noticed that, if only a little, but he wasn't going to be the one to admit it.

"Well, I'm going to go," Yachi said, "Don't forget to tell me anything if you need to."

"All right."

Yachi smiled again before she paused for a second, eyebrows scrunched up as a tiny frown appeared on her face, which lasted for barely a second before she hugged him tight. "Everything's going to be fine, I promise."

"Oh." Tsukishima paused for a second before he let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Thanks, Yachi-san."

"You're welcome." She pulled away after a few seconds, still smiling as wide as ever. "See you later!" She grinned before she turned around and ran back down the hallway, ducking into the control room.

Tsukishima turned around and kept walking, opening the door to home base as quietly as he could when he got there. The room felt different when it was quiet and empty; something about it seemed more melancholy. The white curtains were blowing in the breeze, which probably meant a window had been opened at some point. 

"Hey, Yamaguchi?" Tsukishima asked, closing the door behind him as he walked in. "Are you in here?" Why was he asking that? Where else could he be?

"Hm?" The curtains ruffled a bit before Yamaguchi's head poked out from between them. "What are you doing here? Is this for the job or something?"

"I decided not to go." Tsukishima shrugged. He was starting to feel more relaxed already.

"Why not?" Yamaguchi asked, "I thought you wanted to."

"I did, but I'll just go tomorrow or something."

"Oh." Yamaguchi frowned, pulling his head back behind the curtains again. "Well, if you're staying here, you have to see this."

"See what?" Tsukishima asked, walking over to pull the curtains open.

Yamaguchi was sitting on a small balcony behind a sliding glass door, staring out at the view. It didn't seem like much, since even though they were on the top floor of a skyscraper, there were other buildings that same height that blocked pretty much everything else. But even then, the view was amazing. The buildings seemed to stretch on forever in every direction, never decreasing in height, and the city lights lit up the pink and orange early-sunset sky. A sea of lights from the cars down on the street shone up in bright reds and whites. 

"Wow." Tsukishima looked around for a few seconds before he sat down. "When did you find this?"

"Only like two minutes ago," Yamaguchi said, "It was getting hot in here, so I went to go open a window and I found this."

"Oh." Tsukishima frowned. "Are you doing any better after last night?"

"Yeah." Yamaguchi nodded. "I mean, I still have a headache, but it's not a big deal. I'm fine."

"That's good."  _ Don't think about kissing him, don't think about kissing him, don't think about kissing him. _

"Yeah." Yamaguchi paused with a frown. "Hey, Tsukki, is everything okay? Your cheeks are really red."

" _ Shit _ \- I mean, um, yes." Tsukishima felt his cheeks heat up even more. "E-everything's just fine."

"If you say so." Yamaguchi giggled. "So, why did you stay back?"

"I don't know." Tsukishima crossed his arms and leaned back against the door. He actually knew exactly why he was here, but he wasn't going to say that out loud. "I just didn't feel like going tonight. Bokuto-san said it would have been suspicious if I went out without you."

"Makes sense." Yamaguchi smiled. "Well, uh, I'm glad you're here. It would have been really boring if I was just in here by myself."

"Mm." Tsukishima nodded. He was definitely calmer now than he'd been before, even if his cheeks were still as bright red as he thought they were. “I should probably show you something.”

“What is it?” Yamaguchi asked, “Is it good?”

“Depends on how you think about it.” Despite really not wanting to, Tsukishima stood up and walked back inside, looking on Akaashi’s desk for the files from this morning. Thankfully, Akaashi was so organized that it barely took him any time at all to find them, right on top of a small pile of papers. After picking up the folder, he walked back out onto the balcony and sat down again.

“Are those just the files again?” Yamaguchi cocked his head to the side. “I saw those yesterday, remember?”

“Yeah, I know, but there's more to it. Look.” Tsukishima flipped through the folder until he got to the piece of paper with Yamaguchi’s face on it. “Read the mental manipulation paragraph.”

“Okay.” Yamaguchi nodded, taking the sheet of paper and reading it over to himself before his face got noticeably paler. “Oh, crap, did you notice that?”

“You didn't?”

“You know how sucky my control is! I didn't notice anything.” Yamaguchi chuckled nervously. “Um, sorry about that. It’s probably weird to be, like half-asleep all the time or something.”

“No, it's okay,” Tsukishima said, “I wouldn't have gotten any sleep last night without it.” He didn't choose to mention any of the details, for fear of overheating from blushing so much.

“Oh. That's good.” Yamaguchi looked down at the ground. “I'm glad something went well last night.”

“Yeah.”

“So what does it do?” Yamaguchi asked. “Like how do you feel right now?”

“I don't know, relaxed, I guess?” Tsukishima shrugged. “I mean, I should be a lot more stressed than I am.” He smirked. “That's one of the reasons I decided to stay here, actually.”

“Oh!” Yamaguchi gave a weak smile that had almost no happiness behind it. “Well, I'm glad I could help.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

They stopped talking after that, looking out at the city just past the balcony railing. Tsukishima could still feel his heart pounding against his ribcage, but he didn't feel like anything was wrong. It was nice, but weird, and slightly worrying, too, since he wondered if it was easier for him to say something he'd regret later. But did that even matter? 

"Um, sorry about last night." Yamaguchi sighed. "I shouldn't have tried to test it out."

"Don't worry about it. That's the only way you're going to get better, right?"

Yamaguchi paused for a second, eyes wide. "Yeah, I guess so.” He brought his knees up to his chest, tightly wrapping his arms around them. When he started talking again, his voice was muffled and sounded brittle, almost broken. “I just don’t want to scare everyone, you know?”

“Hey, are you okay?” Tsukishima asked. 

Yamaguchi barely moved, but it was easy for Tsukishima to see his tiny nod before he buried his head in his knees even more, shuddering with every breath he took. After a few seconds, he brought his head back up again and leaned against Tsukishima’s shoulder, tears lingering at the corners of his eyes that were about to burst.

"What's even the point?" Yamaguchi's voice was almost inaudible. "I can't get any better without something like this happening, so why do I even try?"

Tsukishima couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd always thought that Yamaguchi had taken this so  _ well _ ; every time it happened, he'd be smiling again less than five minutes later, and he'd go back to whatever he'd been doing before not long after that. He'd always brushed it off, saying it was nothing and just moving on. 

But that couldn't have been what was actually happening, and Tsukishima mentally kicked himself for not realizing it sooner. Of course it wasn't nothing, especially after how many times it had happened by now. Of course Yamaguchi didn't actually brush anything off, he just put it in a bag and waited until he could let it out.

Without really thinking about it, Tsukishima hugged Yamaguchi tight, letting Yamaguchi bury his face in his shoulder and start sobbing into it before he hugged him back. Even with everything spiraling out of control, Yamaguchi felt warm, something familiar in the middle of everything else. Neither of them showed any sign of wanting to let go, so they just stayed there, holding onto each other as the minutes went by.

Tsukishima wondered how long Yamaguchi had held all this in. How long he'd held  _ everything  _ in. Suddenly passing out for no explainable reason was probably terrifying, and it probably took all the strength he had after all that just to keep it together for a few hours, let alone a day.

Closing his eyes, Tsukishima ran the fingers of one hand through Yamaguchi's hair, trying to think of something that would instantly make this all okay. Even though chances were that that something would be either impossible or ridiculously difficult to find. After a few seconds of thinking and realizing that he couldn't really find it, at least not right now, he just hugged him even tighter, feeling the tears dropping onto his shoulder.

"Why do you do this anyway?" Yamaguchi asked, muffled but still understandable. 

"Why do I do what?"

"Like, all this superhero stuff," Yamaguchi murmured, "What makes it all worth it?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I want something good to come out of this power exhaustion thing." Yamaguchi sat up and sighed, rubbing his eyes. "I want to be able to say I pushed myself that far for a reason."

"Oh, well..." Honestly, Tsukishima couldn't really remember back far enough to know why he had decided to be a part of it in the first place. He probably didn't even have a profound reason for doing it. He was twelve, what kind of twelve-year-old wouldn't want to be a superhero? And besides, it was even better than just being a superhero, it was being a superhero alongside your best friend. At the time, it had sounded like the most amazing job ever, and it definitely still was.

A cold and rainy day from winter break last year popped into his head. It was January 2nd or 3rd, and his brother was back home for New Year's. It was one of the only times they'd had an actual conversation in years, and it was the last time they'd see each other before Tsukishima would start the job in March, so they'd sat on his bed talking for what felt like hours.

They'd talked about the philosophy of it for a while and eventually got onto what the point of it all was. His brother had said that it wasn't fighting crime or saving people or stopping monsters and whatever, although that was a large part of it. Everything fell under the umbrella of making people's lives better. 

But even though Tsukishima believed that, there was something he hadn't thought about. While a large portion of the job was protecting other people, his own life had gotten much better, too. His idealistic, twelve-year-old self was right: being a superhero was fun most of the time. And even when it wasn't, there was no way he would give it up. There were too many memories he'd made and experiences he'd had for him to regret any of it. 

And of course, like everything about this, Yamaguchi was a big part of that. Honestly, he was probably almost all of that, or at least directly or indirectly involved in almost all of it. In every single good memory Tsukishima could bring up from the past few months, he was always there. He was there when they'd gone on their first job, he was there the first time they'd gotten back especially late and they'd stayed up talking until three in the morning. He was there when reviews started picking up, he was obviously there when they kissed.

And there was definitely a way for Tsukishima to say everything he was thinking in a lot fewer words, but if he said that, he would probably melt on the spot.

"I don't know." Tsukishima shrugged, trying to ignore the frantic heartbeat in his chest. "Well, I guess you make it worth it.”

“What?” Yamaguchi seemed to freeze right where he was.

“It sounds stupid, but there isn't much else to it.” Tsukishima crossed his arms. “Saying this probably contradicts the Aka persona entirely, but I don't really care about the people who I save once and never see again. I mean, I do, but it isn't really that meaningful.” He sighed, knowing he was just letting his mouth run, but he didn't care. "But none of this would be the way it is without you."

There was a horribly awkward silence after that that only lasted for a few seconds but felt like an eternity. Everything fell into a complete absence of sound as thoughts raced at the same speed as one of the airplanes somewhere in the atmosphere. But the only thing going through Tsukishima's head was  _ did I say something wrong did I do something wrong did I ruin everything _ .

"O-oh." Yamaguchi's eyes were wide when he finally spoke, which sounded especially loud after the prolonged quiet. "Thanks, I think."

The silence began again after that, but it didn't last nearly as long this time. Or at least, it didn't seem to. Who knew how long it actually was?

"Hey, um, Tsukki?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a weird question?"

"I guess so, yeah."

"Um..." Yamaguchi paused, his cheeks turning bright red before he took a deep breath. "Can I kiss you again?"

Tsukishima's breath caught in his throat. It sounded like a hurried stream of sounds, without any sort of breaks between words, and yet he heard it perfectly. But he must have missed something, because how was that what Yamaguchi had said? There was no way he'd just said that, there was no way whatsoever.

"Sorry." Yamaguchi looked down at the floor. "You can just forget about it if -"

"Yes." The word was out of Tsukishima's mouth and out in the open before he realized it. "I-I mean, yes, you can."

"You're blushing a lot." Yamaguchi grinned.

"Well, so are you."

Yamaguchi laughed as he stood up. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Yeah, good point." Tsukishima slowly got up to his feet. He was hoping that Yamaguchi's weird mind control powers would have helped him right now, when he needed them more than ever, but he didn't feel anything. He was just as nervous as he'd be without their influence, and he was now fully aware of everything he was feeling. He could feel his heart racing, his palms getting clammy, and he was getting so lightheaded that he thought he might faint. Knowing exactly what was going to happen, in his opinion, only made things scarier.

Everything seemed that much darker when they got inside, and they felt that much more alone within the tiny room. Tsukishima didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. 

Yamaguchi stopped right in the middle of the room, trying to take a few deep breaths before bursting out into a fit of giggles. "This is exciting, huh?"

"You could say that." Tsukishima didn't mention that exciting was one of the few words he'd use to describe what was happening.

"Okay." Yamaguchi closed his eyes and took a breath before he opened them again, the smile on his face wider than before.

"Any last words?" Tsukishima asked.

"Tsukki, you make it sound like we're going to die!"

"I probably could."

Yamaguchi laughed. "You ready?"

Tsukishima shrugged. He was probably as ready as he was ever going to be; the longer he waited, the higher the chance that he'd pass out.

He didn't realize how close they'd gotten. Their faces were only a few inches away from each other, and the air between them had gotten hot from their hurried breathing. It didn't look like it from far away, but up close, it was obvious that Yamaguchi was just as nervous as Tsukishima was. All the signs were there, at least.

They stared at each other, unsure as to who would make the first move. Their eyes were wide, their cheeks dusted with red, the butterflies in their stomachs fluttering so fast that no serenity inducement could stop them.

It was somewhat surprising that Yamaguchi set it all into motion, but that's exactly what he did, wrapping his arms around Tsukishima's shoulders and pulling him close before leaning in just enough so their lips met, but didn't smash together, like they did last time. It felt soft, even softer than before, and it made Tsukishima wonder if Yamaguchi had practiced this in his spare time, because he'd gotten a lot better over the past month and a half.

After a few seconds, Tsukishima felt all his nervousness fall away, just like he wanted it to. He could still feel his heart pounding, faster every second, but something allowed him to ignore it. And that was fine. He couldn't have his own uneasiness get in the way now, could he?

He closed his eyes, letting himself melt into all this. He put one hand behind Yamaguchi's head and the other behind his shoulder, leaning into the embrace Yamaguchi already had him in. Yamaguchi felt warm - there wasn't any time Tsukishima could remember when he hadn't - and after a while every part of him that was the slightest bit tense relaxed completely. It was comforting, and Tsukishima was quick to go with the flow when Yamaguchi pulled him ever closer.

They felt closer than ever before, both literally and figuratively, as they let their lips smack and stick together, and they didn't want to pull away. This was the first time that Tsukishima had been involved in a full-on makeout session - last time didn't count - but he had to admit that he sort of liked it.

Yamaguchi took a step back, and Tsukishima followed, keeping his eyes closed the entire way. Everything went smoothly as they took a multitude of tiny steps across the room, unsure of where exactly they were. 

Well, everything went smoothly until Yamaguchi tripped on a bag or something that had been left on the floor. He fell backwards, and Tsukishima fell with him, instantly pulling away to try not to hurt himself. They hit the ground in an awkward tangle of limbs, unable to move for a few seconds. They stared at each other for a second, eyes wide as they tried to comprehend what exactly just happened.

And then Yamaguchi started laughing. And it wasn't a nervous chuckle like the kind he was prone to, either; even pinned down to the floor, he still found something about all this funny. The laugh echoed throughout the empty room, bouncing off the walls and never seeming to end.

“Sorry!” Yamaguchi’s cheeks were still red, along with the tips of his ears, but he kept laughing. “Perfect timing, huh?”

Tsukishima nodded, knowing full well that he was the one holding Yamaguchi down and trying not to really embarrass himself. He slowly got his legs untangled and rolled over onto his back, staring up at the rotating blades of the ceiling fan.

“That was amazing.” Yamaguchi’s attempts to catch his breath were interspersed with breathy giggles. 

“Yeah.” Now that he could hear his heart racing again, Tsukishima tried to focus on just breathing. In, out. In, out. In, out. He was weirdly exhausted, like he'd just run five miles, and he knew exactly why. “It was.”

“You know,” Yamaguchi said, staring up at the ceiling. "I -" He paused for a second before his usual nervous chuckle returned and his voice was barely a whisper. "I really like you. Like,  _ like  _ you."

For probably the fifth time today, Tsukishima froze, wondering if he'd heard right but convinced he'd heard wrong. There was no way that he'd actually heard what he thought he did, but what else could Yamaguchi have said? The room was too small and too empty for anything to distort or muffle it.

But at the same time, everything made sense. Everything that Tsukishima was thinking about this morning finally made sense, and for once, he knew exactly what to say. There was no time like the present, after all, and now that he had the chance, he'd be a fool not to take it. Well, he was definitely a fool in some capacity, but that wasn't the point.

"I like you, too."

Everything was completely silent for what felt like forever, leaving Tsukishima to wonder if he'd said something horribly wrong and inadvertently ruined everything. But that ended in practically a second once Yamaguchi reached over and grabbed Tsukishima's hand, lacing their fingers together with a tiny, almost undetectable squeeze.

It wasn't long before they turned onto their sides to look at each other with bright eyes that lit up the room and dopey smiles on their faces. They must have spent five minutes just lying there, doing nothing but staring at each other.

"I never thought I'd actually like not going out on a job," Tsukishima said.

Yamaguchi nodded, not saying a word. 

They fell into silence again, turning back over to stare at the ceiling, keeping their hands interlocked. There wasn't really anything to stare at on the ceiling besides the boring brown fan, but they did it anyway, and no one complained about it.

As the minutes went by, Tsukishima felt that artificial peacefulness lingering at the edge of his thoughts again. It was just as weird as it always was, but he embraced it, opening the floodgates to let it flow over every corner of his mind. He settled into the weird half-conscious state he always ended up in, but he felt more awake, he felt  _ alive _ .

And he didn't want that adrenaline rush to end.

"We should finish what we started," he murmured.

"What do you mean?" Yamaguchi asked.

Tsukishima sat up, putting his hands out behind him to balance for a second. “You're so much better at this than I am.”

“Better at what?” Yamaguchi cocked his head to the side once he sat up. 

Tsukishima smirked as he tried to suppress any part of him that was remotely unsure. “Honestly, a lot of things, but especially this.”

He braced himself, trying to conquer his fear as he leaned in and attempted to press his lips to Yamaguchi’s as softly as Yamaguchi had before. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work and it was extremely awkward at first, but that didn’t last long, and eventually, it didn’t even matter. 

Needless to say, it felt amazing, just like it did earlier. After a few tense seconds at the very beginning, they both started to relax, almost melting into each other as the moments flew by. Tsukishima felt his heartbeat slowing just as he closed his eyes, surprised that that could even happen at a time like this, but he didn’t complain. He unabashedly loved all of it.

Yamaguchi reached out and grabbed both of Tsukishima’s hands, squeezing them tight enough to cut off his circulation, and without even thinking about it, Tsukishima squeezed right back. That almost brought them even closer together than they already were, and everything felt warmer when it happened. 

After a little bit, they put their arms around each other's shoulders and locked each other in a tight embrace, still making out like there was no tomorrow. It was weird, sure, but it was also exciting and fantastic and euphoric and-

"Oh,  _ wow _ .”

Tsukishima’s eyes flew open with horror as he instinctively pulled away, staring right into Yamaguchi’s equally wide eyes. 

“Come on, bro, you ruined it!”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes as he turned toward the door, where - of course - Bokuto and Kuroo were snickering like the maniacs they were. Akaashi and Kenma were behind them, Akaashi with a completely straight face and Kenma too focused on his game to care, and Yachi was standing at the back, eyes wide. 

“Carry on, carry on!” Kuroo grinned. “We didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

“And you didn’t see that.” Tsukishima’s eyes narrowed as he tried as hard as he could to control how red his cheeks were. 

“All right, we didn’t see anything.” Bokuto put his hands out in front of him. “Promise.”

“Sorry for walking in on this." Akaashi bowed his head. 

"It's fine." Yamaguchi gave a sheepish grin. "I-it was bound to happen, I guess." 

That was true; they were right in the middle of the room, after all.

"Did you really skip out on a job to do  _ this _ ?" Kuroo practically guffawed, looking Tsukishima right in the eye. "That's just lazy!"

"This just happened." Tsukishima crossed his arms. "But judging from the time it took you to do it, you didn't need my help anyway."

"Okay, you got me there." Kuroo shrugged.

"Well, we're going to go change," Akaashi said, "We'll be back in a few minutes, so try to be ready to go by then. It's a long enough drive back already, we don't want to prolong it any longer than we need to."

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi both nodded as everyone walked out of the room with the exception of Yachi, who walked further in and kneeled down next to them. She was smiling, as usual.

"How was it?" Yamaguchi asked, "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah." Yachi nodded. "It was weird without you two there, but it was pretty easy, and everyone was really nice." She giggled. "You guys had better come tomorrow, it'll be a lot of fun."

"Good to know," Yamaguchi said.

Yachi turned to Tsukishima with a wide grin. "I think I already know the answer to this, but was staying back worth it?"

Tsukishima smirked. "Why are you even asking?"

"Thought so." Yachi closed her eyes and let out a breath before she hugged both of them tight. "Leave it to you two to take this power exhaustion thing ridiculously well."

Yamaguchi laughed as he joined the group hug. "You could put it that way."

After a few seconds, Yachi was the first one to pull away. "I should get everything ready to go. See you guys in a bit!" 

Yamaguchi waved as she got up and walked out of the room before he turned to Tsukishima. "I guess we've just had a lot of bad luck lately.”

“I don’t know.” Tsukishima shrugged. “I don’t think it’s a lot.”

“Yeah.” Yamaguchi smiled, looking down at the floor. “That was fun.”

Tsukishima nodded, letting the silence envelop the room once again. They sat there for a few minutes, looking at the door since they didn’t really need to move or turn around, before Yamaguchi started laughing again. It started out as a tiny, tinkling giggle, but it soon expanded into something loud and unbound. After a few seconds, Tsukishima found himself joining in. There was definitely something funny about all this, as embarrassing as it was. And besides, what did it matter? There wasn’t anyone else around, and there was no way to redeem himself after being so sappy for however long he’d been in here.

Yachi was right - he could be really sweet sometimes. 

“I’m actually kind of exhausted,” he said, chuckling to himself.

“Yeah, me, too.” Yamaguchi paused for a second before he let out a tiny gasp. “Wait, are my powers still working?”

“They’ve been working this whole time.” Just saying that made Tsukishima think about them more. Honestly, he didn’t know what he would have done without them, and it sure wouldn’t have been this. 

“Oh.” Yamaguchi chuckled. “Sorry about that.”

“You only found out about it yesterday, it’s not going to be perfect yet.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Yamaguchi stopped for a second before he cocked his head to the side. “Do you care? Like, do you have a problem with it or anything?”

All this talk about it was just making Tsukishima sleepy, as much as he didn’t want to be. But at the same time, he let it run its course, letting his eyelids droop as he let out whatever breath he’d been holding. It felt just as weird as it did every time he’d noticed it over the past day, but it was comforting that he knew where it was coming from. And all in all, most of the time, he liked it.

“Of course not,” he mumbled, leaning over onto Yamaguchi’s shoulder just as the world faded to black. ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm on tumblr at either my [writing blog](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com) or my [main](http://violinist-tsukki.tumblr.com) if you're so inclined!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated!
> 
>  
> 
> ~~I like to imagine Yachi crying when she walks in on it and I don't know why she's crying but she's definitely tearing up :3c~~


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize in advance. For everything. For how bad this chapter is, for how long it took me to update, for just generally being underwhelming. Well, now first semester's over for me, and I should really be practicing because I have a competition thing tomorrow but as a great hero once said, I'll save tomorrow's problems for tomorrow's me.
> 
> So here you go. A lackluster chapter.
> 
> The next one's going to be better, I promise.

The warm summer sun shone onto Tsukishima's eyelids before he even really woke up. He heard the clock clearly, ticking away the seconds as everything else was silent. There was a cool breeze blowing onto his face, if only a barely noticeable one.

He kept his eyes closed, knowing that it was definitely morning by now and someone was probably going to come in and wake him up. All the interviews and publicity stuff were supposed to happen today, after all. He wanted to savor the last few minutes - seconds? - of sleep he had left.

He wondered how long he'd been asleep for. He'd passed out at around eight-thirty last night and he didn't know what time it was now. It was summer though, so if the sun was as low in the sky as it seemed to be right now, it was still pretty early. 

There was a hushed conversation that he couldn't understand, before he heard the creak of a door opening and the sound of footsteps. There was another creak a few seconds later that aligned with the end of the footsteps, followed by the shuffling of paper. The shuffling ended after a while, and for a few seconds, everything was silent once again except for almost inaudible breathing.

"What...?” The voice was barely a whisper, and it was followed immediately by a quiet gasp that cut off as soon as it began. “Crap...”

Tsukishima chose that moment to open his eyes, temporarily blinded by the sudden onset of sunlight before he could see again. He stared up at the blank white ceiling above his head. For a few seconds, he didn’t know where he was, until he sat up to find himself in the same room he’d spent most of his time in this week. He was lying in the bed in the corner which was right next to the sliding glass door. The curtains were open, and the door looked to be, too, if only a little.

Yamaguchi was sitting in a chair in front of one of the two desks, staring right back at Tsukishima with wide eyes. He clutched a piece of paper tightly in his hand. Tsukishima was ninety-nine percent sure he knew what it was. 

“H-hi.” Yamaguchi smiled nervously as he put the piece of paper down on the desk. “Sorry I woke you up.”

“No, I was already sort of awake before you came in.” Tsukishima reached over and grabbed his glasses off the table next to the bed, checking carefully for smudges or anything before he put them on.

“Oh. Well, that’s good, I guess.” Yamaguchi giggled. Something looked distinctly different about him, but Tsukishima couldn’t place what.

“Did you do something to your hair?” Tsukishima asked. It might have been that it was just floatier than usual for some weird reason. That had definitely happened before.

“What? Nope.” Yamaguchi shook his head. “Maybe it’s the uniform or something..”

“Hm?” As it turned out, Yamaguchi was wearing the all-black base part of the new uniform. Tsukishima hadn't initially recognized it without the mask and the jacket that came with it, but now that he did, that was probably the reason he thought something looked off. It looked professional, it looked kind of edgy, and it was weird, but  _ good _ weird.

"Why are you wearing it now?" Tsukishima asked.

"I don’t know.” Yamaguchi shrugged. “It’s comfortable and I wanted to get ready early.” He paused for a second. “But don’t worry, we don’t have to leave yet.”

“Good.” Tsukishima lay back down with a sigh as his head hit the pillow. "I'm not ready for any of this."

"Me neither." Yamaguchi frowned, looking down at the piece of paper on the desk again. "Um, can I tell you something?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Okay,  so you remember last night, right?"

"What about it?" Tsukishima's eyes narrowed as he started to sit up again. "There was kind of a lot."

"When you fell asleep at the end."

"I already knew that was you."

"So did I, but -" Yamaguchi sighed. "That's not supposed to happen. The file said that's an advanced technique, and I'm nowhere near advanced right now." He chuckled. "I don't know how long I've actually been able to do this, but I only found out about it two days ago."

"So you're wondering how it worked."

"Yeah."

Tsukishima paused. "Maybe it's just something exclusive for now. It might only work on me until you make it stronger, and then it'll extend to more people."

"Yeah, but why would it work on you to begin with?" Yamaguchi asked.

"I don't know." Tsukishima shrugged. "It's just a possibility."

"Well, it sort of makes sense." Yamaguchi stopped to take a breath. "Sorry about that, though. It must have been weird to -"

"Stop."

"What?"

"You don't have to apologize for that," Tsukishima said, "I told you, I don't care what happens to me." He smirked. "And even I did, don't you think everything else last night more than made up for it?"

Yamaguchi froze for a few seconds before he burst out laughing. "Tsukki, you're the worst!"

"I really am, aren't I?" Tsukishima stretched his arms up above his head, completely unaware that that was the moment when Yamaguchi decided to launch himself halfway across the room and hug him while hovering above the bed itself. Tsukishima had to awkwardly sit there with his arms sticking straight up for a few seconds before he hugged him back.

"You're definitely up there!" Yamaguchi giggled.

"So I've heard." 

Yamaguchi smiled. “So are you excited?"

"For today?" Tsukishima shrugged. "Not particularly, no."

"Really?" Yamaguchi asked, "It's supposed to be really fun!"

"Yeah, if you're any good at this whole interview thing, which I'm not."

"Come on, you're better than me!" Yamaguchi floated back down and landed on the ground right next to the door. "I should go tell everyone you're awake. Go change into your uniform and meet me in the control room, okay?"

"Okay- wait." Tsukishima paused for a second. "Where's your jacket?"

"Didn't put it on yet." Yamaguchi gave a sheepish grin before he ran out into the hallway. "Bye!"

"Bye." Tsukishima swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up with a final yawn. He saw his own uniform sitting on one of the couches, red jacket and all, and walked over to pick it up. He placed it on the bed as he walked over to shut the curtains before laying it out in its four parts.

He changed quickly, even though it was slightly hard to get the spandex part on since it was so tight, and once he finished putting the boots on over that, he stopped to breathe. 

Yamaguchi was right: it was pretty comfortable. It was tight, but it was breathable, and it didn't look very restricting. When combined with the boots, the entire thing looked cool, for lack of a better term. 

Deciding to save the jacket for later, Tsukishima grabbed it, the mask sitting next to it, and his phone, stuffing them in his bag as he walked toward the door, realizing the boots were easy to move around in. Once he got there, he looked in the mirror right next to the door and tried to make his hair look a little less I-just-woke-up-ten-minutes-ago before he walked out into the hallway. The control room door was open when he got there, and when he walked in, everyone else was already there, in the middle of some conversation.

"Hey, would you look who it is!" Bokuto grinned, turning away from everyone else in the room. "Hey, sleepyhead!"

Tsukishima rolled his eyes and went to sit down next to the windowsill Yamaguchi was perched on top of. 

“So as I was saying." Kuroo turned to Yamaguchi from where he was standing, right next to Bokuto behind the desk. "The key to all this is thinking like you're an actor in a play, and your character knows what they're doing. It usually works."

"Okay." Yamaguchi nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Tsukishima asked.

"Nothing really." Kuroo shrugged. "Just dispensing some of my interview wisdom." He paused. "Weird question, do you have a nice smile?"

"What kind of question even is that?" 

"Listen, your face is probably going to be on one of those magazine posters, judging from how famous you are, and quite a few teenage girls are going to want to hang it on their walls." Kuroo chuckled. "People are going to go nuts if you have a really cute smile or something."

"I don't know, I've never looked."

"Boo-hoo." Kuroo looked over at Yamaguchi again. "Does he have a nice smile?"

"What?" Yamaguchi's eyes went wide. "Why are you asking me?!"

"I assume you're the only one here who's ever seen it," Kuroo said, "It's a yes-or-no question."

Yamaguchi paused for a second before he looked at the ground, his cheeks dusted with pink. "I-I guess so."

"Well, that's one less thing to worry about." Kuroo looked over at Tsukishima again. "And from what I hear, you're a natural at the whole interview thing."

Tsukishima shrugged. "You could say that."

"Well, then I guess my work here is done." Kuroo sat down on one of the three desk chairs, giving it a spin before stopping when he faced Yachi. "Take it away."

"Um, okay." Yachi let out a breath before looking over at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi with a smile. “So here’s the plan.” She stopped for a second to grab a piece of paper from the desk. "This morning, there are three different magazine interviews.” She held up three fingers. “But it’s weird. There was a ton of arguing about the first two, because their only openings were at the exact same time, so eventually, we had to agree to split you two up and have one of you go to each.” Yachi shrugged. “The last one’s both of you together, though, if that makes anything better.”

“Um, okay." Yamaguchi's eyes were wide. "It'll be weird, but I'm sure we can make it work."

"Yeah." Tsukishima nodded.

“And then tonight we have the one TV appearance," Yachi continued, "It’s a really popular talk show, and I was talking to Yaku-san the other day and he said we’re being advertised as the stars of the show, it’s really exciting.”

“Basically, pressure’s on.” Kuroo grinned. “Let’s hope you’ll be able to handle it.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Tsukishima crossed his arms before turning to Yachi again. “And what’s after that?”

"I got food on the way here, so we're having breakfast on the way out," Yachi said, "And I think Akaashi-san's coming with us...?"

"That sounded like the plan," Akaashi said.

"When did you arrange that?" Bokuto frowned. "I wanted to come!"

"If you came, then we'd have to bring everyone," Akaashi said, "And that just seems impractical."

Bokuto sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Don't take it personally, Bokuto-san. You're perfectly good at this."

Bokuto chuckled. "Thanks."

"No problem." Akaashi looked at Yachi again as he stood up. "I'm going to go change, and then I'll be ready to go."

"Okay, see you soon!" Yachi waved as Akaashi left the room and walked back down the hall before she turned to Bokuto. "I don't think it would hurt anything if you came along."

"Nah, Akaashi's right." Bokuto shrugged. "If I come, there's going to be too many people and it'll just be chaotic. The two of you are pretty good at looking over stuff, so I'm fine staying here."

Yachi paused for a second before she nodded. "All right. Sorry, Bokuto-san."

"Don't worry about it! There's always so much to do around here, I need a break."

"Seriously, he and Akaashi probably do more work than I do," Kuroo said from across the room. "It's tough."

"Yeah, I know." Yachi smiled. "But it's fun."

"Damn right!" Bokuto grinned. 

"So what happened last night?" Yamaguchi asked, "Like on the job."

Kuroo chuckled. "Well, it sure wasn't as interesting as whatever you two were doing." 

"Can you  _ not _ ?" Tsukishima asked after a second of awkward silence. "I thought you agreed that you didn't see that."

"I'm using it as a basis of comparison," Kuroo said, "Basically, the job was boring. Somebody didn't know who they were dealing with and the whole thing took about five minutes." 

"Yeah, you didn't miss anything." Bokuto put his hands behind his head. "Hopefully, tonight's actually going to be fun."

Yachi giggled. "I'm sure it will be!"

"It'll be like a party with so many people," Kuroo said, "I'm looking forward to it."

"If it's a party, I'm up for being the DJ!" Bokuto laughed.

"Something tells me that isn't a good idea," Tsukishima said. 

"And you'd be right." Akaashi walked back in, running the fingers of one hand through his hair.

"Akaashi!" Bokuto put his hands on his hips. "What did I even do?"

"I haven't forgotten the time you only played meme songs on repeat, Bokuto-san."

"What?" Yamaguchi cracked a smile.

"Don't ask." Akaashi turned to Yachi. "You ready?"

"Yeah." Yachi nodded before she turned around and grinned at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. "Let's go."

* * *

“Crap, this won’t work!” The man in the baseball cap sighed as he looked over at the laptop on the rolling cart.

_ Then what will? _ Tsukishima thought to himself, trying not to roll his eyes in the process. 

“Do you have any other ideas?” The man asked the woman standing next to him. She paused for a second before she whispered something to him that Tsukishima couldn’t hear. 

They continued on like that for a while, leaving Tsukishima to sit around and realize just how bored he was. This shoot had taken an hour so far, and he’d spent most of it just sitting here, alone, with maybe two good shots coming out of it. His bag was all the way over across the room on a table by where Akaashi was standing, so there was no way he could just grab his phone and do something with his time. 

“All right!” The man in the baseball cap looked up again, clutching the camera in his hands. “This one’s going to work, and then we’ll be done.”

Tsukishima sighed and stood up again, wondering what kind of weird torture he’d be put through this time. As worried as he was that this would be worse than the others, he took comfort in knowing that it probably wouldn’t be as bad as the James Bond pose they’d made him do at the beginning of all this. That was just embarrassing. 

“You don't have to stand up, this one isn’t going to be as bad.” The woman smiled, almost sympathetically.

Tsukishima practically melted back down into his seat. 

“Okay, so." The man in the baseball cap grinned. "This is going to be a close-up, and you're going to put one hand up in front of your face, but not so you cover your eyes. You're going to do a little crackle-spark thing with that hand, and that's the shot. Okay?"

Tsukishima nodded again, trying to hide his disdain at his confirmed suspicions. This was going to look really stupid.

"Sweet, let's finish this." The man held up the camera and took a few steps in Tsukishima's direction before getting down one knee. "Yeah, this is going to be good." He closed one eye. "Okay, you're on."

Tsukishima put one hand up in front of his face, spreading his fingers wide enough so he could see past them. He looked right at the lens of the camera, trying not to look completely bored, despite his face probably being devoid of emotion. After a second or two, he sent a burst of electricity down through his arm until it reached through his fingers with a tiny pop before settling into an unsteady flow that made his fingers look like slightly fatter sparklers.

"Perfect!" The man stayed completely still for a few seconds, temporarily freezing time before the camera's flash went off. 

Everything stopped for a moment before the man went back to look at the laptop. After a moment, he pumped his fist in the air. "Perfect!"

"So does that mean I'm done?" Tsukishima asked, bringing his hand back down to his side. So much for the so-called "Aka persona" being somewhat enthusiastic.

"Yes!" The man set down the camera before he walked over to shake Tsukishima's hand. "It was a pleasure working with you, Aka-kun."

"...Thanks." Tsukishima wasn't prepared for the firm handshake that the man gave, and he just let the shake itself move his arm for him.

"You're free to go," the woman said, still standing by the laptop. "With all the shots we got, hopefully we'll find three good ones."

"Okay." Tsukishima stood up and stretched his arms up above his head before walking over to where Akaashi was standing.

"Hey." Akaashi grabbed the bag off of the table and held it out to Tsukishima, who eagerly took it. "You're done?"

"Yeah."

"The others are meeting us outside." Akaashi looked down at his phone for a second before he started walking towards the door. "Then we have the second shoot, and then we're done for the day." He turned around and smirked as he opened a door. "That is, if we don't count the job tonight."

Tsukishima shrugged, following Akaashi through that door and a few others before they got outside. The sunlight was particularly blinding, but Tsukishima could see enough to know where the opening of his bag was, and he put his jacket in without any trouble before taking his glasses back out and slipping them on.

"Hey, there they are!" Yachi's voice sounded far away, but was instantly recognizable.

After a few seconds, once Tsukishima could actually see again, he looked over to see Yachi and Yamaguchi jogging towards him and Akaashi, Yachi taking the lead. She stopped in front of them, typical wide smile on her face.

"So how did it go?" She asked, "Hopefully, it wasn't too bad."

"It was okay." Tsukishima shrugged. "Nothing much really happened."

"How did yours go?" Akaashi asked.

"Fantastic!" Yachi exclaimed. "Everything went really well, it was fun."

"I don't know if I'd say 'fun'." Yamaguchi scratched the back of his head. "But yeah, it went great."

"Well, there's more coming as soon as we get out of here," Akaashi said, "This one shouldn't be as bad."

"Good," Yachi said, "What are we waiting for?"

"Nothing." Akaashi started walking toward the street. "It's just a few blocks from here, we can walk."

The four of them started walking down the street, not seeming to draw any attention. It was weird, having everyone know your name - well, your nickname, anyway - one second and being completely invisible the next. But at the same time, it was nice - what kind of person wanted to be recognized like that all the time? That would just be chaotic and stressful, two things being a superhero had more than enough of already.

"Hey!" Yamaguchi put one arm around Tsukishima's shoulder with a grin. 

"Hi." 

"So what happened at your thing?" Yamaguchi asked, "There wasn't a lot that went on at mine, it was kind of boring."

"Yeah, same here." Tsukishima frowned. "It's like they put a lot of work into making the questions as generic as possible."

"Well, Yachi-san said that this next one's supposed to be a lot more fun," Yamaguchi smiled. "And besides, we're together for this one, so that should at least be more interesting."

"Mm." Tsukishima nodded slowly.

"Anyway, are you excited for the job tonight?" Yamaguchi shrugged. "I mean, that depends on if there  _ is  _ one, but I'm pretty sure it's going to happen."

"I guess so," Tsukishima said, "It'll be weird, though."

"Yeah, but what part of this isn't weird?" Yamaguchi grinned. "That's the fun part!" He picked up his pace a little bit. "It's the weird stuff that makes all this interesting, right?"

"Sorta."

"Anyway, I've been waiting for this job since we got here," Yamaguchi said, "I've heard that there are a ton of stunts and stuff, like running on top of really tall buildings and diving off rooftops and things like that."

"Really?" Tsukishima had already known that, of course, and he had definitely been waiting for the chance to do it himself. 

"Yeah." Yamaguchi's eyes brightened as he nodded. "It's going to be great. At least, that's what everyone else said."

"Did I really miss that much last night?" Tsukishima asked. 

"It was an hour-long drive both ways, there was a lot of talking." Yamaguchi paused for a second. "Oh, and speaking of last night..."

"What did I do?" Tsukishima thought aloud, not realizing the words had come out of his mouth until he heard them himself.

"You didn't do anything!" Yamaguchi's eyes widened. "That's not what I meant! I meant to say you didn't do anything  _ wrong _ ." He took a quick breath before he continued. "Anyway, um, I was thinking about it, and I was wondering if, uh, -"

"Hey, guys, we're here!" Yachi shouted, making Tsukishima realize that he and Yamaguchi had slowed down exponentially when they'd started talking. 

"Don't worry, I'll tell you later." Yamaguchi giggled, jogging up to join Yachi and Akaashi. "But it's about last night, though!"

Tsukishima found himself noticeably more worried as he joined everyone else and walked inside. He didn't have any idea what Yamaguchi was going to say, and now he had to wait for however long this was going to take just to hear him say it. It had sounded like a good thing, but who knew what it could turn out to be?

Once the four of them got inside, they were greeted by a brightly-lit main hall with a large desk in the middle. The two women sitting at the desk looked like they were in their twenties, and they both grinned once they saw them walk in.

“Well, well, well, if it isn't Akaashi-kun!” The one with the short hair said, looking at everyone else. “New protégés?”

“You could say that.” Akaashi didn't show any sign of emotion, just like always. “Sorry we’re a little early.”

“It's fine!” The woman with the ponytail let out a breath. “They cleared out the schedule so this could be just as long as they want it to be.”

“Okay.”

“Find somewhere to hang out for a minute, we’ll be ready to go soon.” The woman with the short hair picked up a phone as everyone else walked over to stand against the wall.

“So how is this going to go?” Yamaguchi asked, taking off the hoodie he was wearing and slipping his jacket on.

“It's a lot like the last one,” Akaashi said, “There isn't really anything special I need to tell you about in advance.”

“Oh.” Yamaguchi looked down at the ground. “That's good.”

“Just go with the motions and you'll be fine.” Yachi smiled. “This isn't like a review or anything, the people reading this are huge fans of yours already.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Yamaguchi shrugged.

Things stayed silent for a few minutes after that, leaving Tsukishima to wonder what seemed off to him about all this. It probably wasn't much, but there was something that didn't feel right.

“Akaashi-san...” He paused for a second, trying to think of how to say it. “How does everyone here know your name?”

“It's probably Bokuto-san’s fault.” Akaashi gave a dry smile. “We were here once a few months ago, and I guess people just remembered from back then.”

“Oh.”

“Akaashi-kun!” The woman with the short hair shouted from across the room, gesturing to another woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties. “They’re all ready for you!”

“Okay, thanks.” Akaashi nodded, leading everyone else out of the corner and back towards the desk, shaking the older woman’s hand when he got there. 

After a short conversation, she led the four of them through a door and down a series of twisted hallways that Tsukishima couldn’t even try to remember the sequence of. The entire building buzzed with activity, with people rushing from one room to another and the constant white noise of steady conversation in the background. The woman stopped in front of one nondescript-looking door, knocking twice before she opened it, leading the other four into a dimly-lit room filled with cameras and all sorts of other weird equipment. 

“Before we get started, we have a little survey for you two to fill out.” The woman held out two small pieces of paper to Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, along with two pens. “It’ll just be an info dump on the side of the actual article, you know.”

Tsukishima nodded, taking the piece of paper and the pen and looking over it for a few seconds. The questions were simple, and it looked like these people were just trying to create a sort of character profile. He used the wall next to him as a surface and started writing things down, filling everything out in under a minute. The last question was something he needed to think about slightly more than the others, but he found the answer fairly quickly and wrote it down even faster, handing the piece of paper back to the woman around the same time Yamaguchi did. 

“Great.” The woman stuck the pieces of paper inside the folder she was carrying. “We’re going to do the shoot, and then everything else, okay?”

Everyone nodded, walking even further into the room. There were a few other people in there, most of them looking particularly bubbly. 

After being introduced to two more people whose names Tsukishima couldn’t be bothered to remember, he expected to be put through another round of torture, just like last time. But it turned out to be a pleasant surprise when he realized that he didn’t have to do anything particularly stupid. The poses were ridiculous, sure, but they weren’t too far gone. 

“Okay.” The woman behind the camera, who looked fairly young, chuckled after around ten minutes. “We’re going for a wide variety of shots here, so now we’re just going to try to get the generic Disney-Channel-Original-Movie wide smile shot, just in case it works.”

Never mind.

“Think about last night,” Yamaguchi whispered with a grin.

“W-what?!” Tsukishima tried as hard as he could not to blush, but he could feel his cheeks heating up anyway as Yamaguchi just started giggling. “That’s not fair!”

“Yes, it is!” Yamaguchi faced forward again, the grin on his face shining even in the dim light of the room. “Works for me.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes as everything popped right back into his head after he’d managed to take his mind off of it for most of the day. And, of course, Yamaguchi was right, as he almost always was. As he thought about it more and more, the tiniest hint of a smile started to come to his face. 

“That’s it!” The woman beamed, closing one eye as she positioned the camera just right. “Okay, now just get a little closer...”

Yamaguchi was the one to move in, draping an arm around Tsukishima’s shoulder as he closed his eyes and grinned even wider. Something about him seemed different right then; he seemed just the slightest bit happier, the slightest bit more confident. Tsukishima had no idea why, or what anything had to do with it, but if he was completely honest, he had to admit that he kind of liked it.

Just as he let himself smile just the slightest bit wider, he was blinded as the camera flash went off.

* * *

**_MD Confidential_ **

 

**Name:** Midori

**Age:** 15

**Birthday/Star Sign:** November 10/Scorpio

**Favorite food:** French fries

**Favorite school subject:** Language Arts

**Favorite thing about being a hero:** The action!

**Who inspires you?:** Aka, my family

* * *

 

**Name:** Aka

**Age:** 15

**Birthday/Star Sign:** September 27

**Favorite food:** Strawberry shortcake

**Favorite school subject:** Science

**Favorite thing about being a hero:** The irony of it all

**Who inspires you?:** Midori mostly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> On tumblr [@hanwritesstuff](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com) or [@violinist-tsukki](http://violinist-tsukki.tumblr.com)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I updated in a week. This is good. Anyway, one more chapter after this one. I don't have much of it so far, but it's going to be mostly fluffy with a little bit of action. Yeah. But until then, enjoy this! I'm actually kind of proud of it!

That night found Tsukishima sitting in the control room, on the windowsill that had a perfect view. It was the only place where he could escape from Kuroo and Bokuto’s weird antics and their incessant attempts to drag him in, so he stayed right there, staring out the window at the cars below in complete silence. He needed to take some time after everything that had happened to calm down and prepare for the job that was inevitably coming.

He didn't think anyone would find him here, though he was sure Yamaguchi had been looking, and all in all, he didn’t mind that much. He was fine with being alone for a little while, and after things being so hectic for so long, he was glad for an opportunity to have nothing to do. While Yamaguchi’s newfound abilities were nice and effective enough, they were still too weird for Tsukishima to get used to just yet. Although he was sure he’d get used to them sooner than he’d expect.

Everyone else was probably doing something worthwhile with their time, and Tsukishima knew he had something he could do, but he just chose not to. He needed a break and it didn’t get much simpler than that.

Besides, if yesterday told him anything, it was that he was clearly the least powerful person here and that he had practically no stress in terms of his own development. It was slightly disheartening, sure, but he was surprisingly okay with it. To him, it only meant that he didn’t have to worry about himself, which was good enough.

But at the same time...

He sighed, shutting down the thought before it could fully blossom. Of course he was strong enough, he was just fine where he was. That wasn’t the problem he needed to worry about right now.

Now that he thought about it, there weren’t _any_ problems to worry about right now. There was the constant fear that another power exhaustion thing would happen on Yamaguchi’s end, but considering that practically nothing had happened since last time, the chances of that happening were almost nonexistent.

Before Tsukishima could delve into any more introspection, the door to the control room opened and Yachi walked in, holding a stack of papers. It took her a few seconds to even notice that he was there, and she jumped when she realized he was looking at her before bursting out into giggles.

"There you are!" She smiled at him from across the room as she put the stack of papers next to one of the computers on the desk. "Everyone's been looking for you."

"Well, maybe I just don't want to be found." Tsukishima shrugged, looking out the window again.

"Yeah, maybe." Yachi walked over to look out the window. "So what are you doing in here, anyway?"

"Nothing."

"Really?"

"I don't know." Tsukishima let out a breath. "I just wanted to not have to do anything before tonight."

"Mm." Yachi nodded slowly. "Well, Yamaguchi-kun asked me to tell him if I found you, but I can hold off on that for a few minutes." She stopped, eyes wide. "But only if you want me to! I can tell him whenever you want!"

"You can go tell him," Tsukishima said, "Just don't let anyone else hear. I don't want to deal with whatever weird plans Kuroo-san and Bokuto-san have for me."

Yachi smiled. "Okay, I will." She walked over towards the door. "Bye!" She paused for a second. "Oh, and don't worry if Yamaguchi-kun seems a little out of it when he gets here. There's a mind control demo going on in the other room."

Tsukishima hesitantly nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

As Yachi walked out of the room and closed the door behind her, Tsukishima was left in the silence of the room around him once again. He lay down on his back, bending his knees as he turned his head to look out at the sunset. The sky was ever slowly darkening, and right now the clouds had a purple tinge to them.

He took his phone out of his pocket, staring at the lock screen for a good fifteen seconds before he decided to unlock it. His wallpaper wasn't all that special; it was just a generic blue gradient. But he didn't have anything else to do but look at it.

Once he did unlock the phone, he didn't know what exactly to do with it. He'd gotten a text a few minutes ago from Yamaguchi, asking where he was, but he had just told Yachi, so he didn't feel the need to reply.

"Can you do it?" Someone asked from outside, their voice muffled by the door. Tsukishima instantly sat up again, trying to hear whatever was going on out there.

"Of course I _can_ do it." The other person sounded exasperated, annoyed. "The real question is if I _should_."

"You have to, that's the only way I'll be able to pull this off!"

"I'm not saying I have any experience here, but I'm sure there are more ways than just that." The second voice sighed. "I know you're scared, but this is no way to face your fear."

"And why not?" The first voice got the slightest bit louder.

"It won't be you doing it. You'll just be a puppet doing it exactly as I tell you to."

"Well, I can't do it on my own!"

The second person stopped. "Fine. I'll do it. But if everything gets ruined because of it, take it as a learning opportunity. Besides, you’ll be doing stuff like this soon enough, it has a steep learning curve."

"Okay. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, let's just get this over with."

They stopped talking for a little bit after that, and Tsukishima went back to staring out the window. What was that about? _Who_ was that about?

"Okay, we're done here," the first person said. "Now you should have all the energy you'll need."

"Thank you _so_ much, I'll pay you back for this, I -"

"It's okay. I don't need anything."

There were quiet footsteps as someone walked down the hall again. The door creaked open a few seconds later and Yamaguchi walked in, his steps light and floaty. He was still smiling, though, just like usual.

"Hey..." Tsukishima paused for a second. "Are you okay?"

Yamaguchi's eyes widened before he walked across the room sat down on the floor next to the windowsill. "Y-yeah. I'm fine."

"That's good, you're going to be busy tonight."

"Yeah." Yamaguchi took a deep breath before he continued. "Um, if I don't sound like myself right now, it's because I asked Kenma-san to mess with my head and give me enough confidence to do what I'm about to do."

"Well, you sound normal enough." Tsukishima shrugged, even though at this point, there were more questions than answers. "And what are you about to do anyway?"

"Okay." Yamaguchi gulped. "I said I was going to tell you something before the interview today, and I didn't tell you until now because I kind of chickened out."

"So now you can say it."

"Yeah." Yamaguchi chuckled. "This is going to sound really stupid."

"I tell myself that every time I open my mouth." Tsukishima smirked. "It won't sound as stupid as you think it will."

"All right." Yamaguchi sighed. "So I was thinking about last night, and I - I guess I was wondering if, uh…" He sucked in a breath. "Jobsaresortalikedatesright?"

"What?" Tsukishima found himself once again doubting that he'd heard correctly, whatever he'd heard out of all that. "I didn't hear you."

Yamaguchi closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath before he opened them again. "Jobs are sorta like dates, right? Like if you think about it -"

"Are you asking me out?" Tsukishima instantly regretted asking the question once it was there, since things were now more awkward than Yamaguchi ever could have made them. They stared at each other for what felt like hours, eyes wide as neither of them dared to move.

"Maybe?" Yamaguchi whispered after a silence that was way too long. Tsukishima didn’t quite know how the whole mind control thing worked, but Yamaguchi seemed just like his usual self.

"Well, if that is what you're asking..." Tsukishima shrugged. "Yeah."

"What do you mean, yeah?" Yamaguchi asked.

"I mean that if you did happen to be asking me out, I would say yes."

"You would?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Tsukishima sighed. "Is this what you needed Kenma-san's help with?"

Yamaguchi nodded. "I was too scared to do it before."

"Well, congratulations."

Yamaguchi giggled. "That's not exactly what you're supposed to say when you're asked out, Tsukki!"

"Then what am I supposed to say?" Tsukishima asked, swinging his legs over the edge of the windowsill to stand up. "'It would be my pleasure'?"

"I guess that's good enough." Yamaguchi grinned as he stood up.

 

“There you two are!” The door slammed against the wall as it flew open and Bokuto rushed in, followed by everyone else. “Looks like it’s job time!”

“Sweet!” Yamaguchi's grin grew even wider. “So what do we do?”

“Akaashi?” Bokuto lightly elbowed Akaashi in the side. “What’s the plan?”

“The job is completely normal this time around, so there isn’t anything too special to worry about,” Akaashi said, “But at Kuroo-san’s request, we’re splitting up into who does the first half of the job and who does the last half.”

“And Kenma and I are calling the first half.” Kuroo grinned in Tsukishima’s general direction. “No offense, but you two don’t exactly have experience in the big leagues.”

That wasn’t a lie.

“So then we get the second half.” Tsukishima crossed his arms.

“We’ll all go as a group.” Akaashi looked over at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. “But once we get there, you two will wait it out until everyone else is ready.”

“Got it.” Yamaguchi nodded.

“Okay, then everyone can just get ready and meet back here in a few minutes.” Akaashi took a seat in one of the three desk chairs, and Bokuto and Yachi followed soon afterward. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi stayed inside, since they already had their uniforms on from earlier and didn't have anything else to do. Kuroo immediately left the room, heading off down the hall, and Kenma was about to follow before he stopped at the door.

“So, how did it go?” He asked, looking over at Yamaguchi with narrowed eyes. “Did it work?”

“Yeah, I’d say it went pretty well.” Yamaguchi chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “Thanks a lot.”

“There’s no need.” The tiniest hint of a smile appeared on Kenma’s face. “I didn’t do anything.”

Yamaguchi paled. “You _what?_ ”

“I faked it.” Kenma shrugged. “You did the entire thing on your own.”

Yamaguchi’s mouth fell open. “I _what_?”

“There wasn't any mind control whatsoever," Kenma said, "You just thought there was, and that's how you ended up doing it."

"Whoa." Yamaguchi’s eyes lit up as he smiled. "That's so weird."

Kenma nodded before walking out of the room and down the hall, closing the door behind him.

"So what was that about?" Bokuto asked.

"N-nothing! Nothing at all." Yamaguchi chuckled.

"It doesn't sound like nothing!" Bokuto's voice was sing-songy, like the kind that an elementary schooler would use on the playground.

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but it was." Tsukishima crossed his arms.

"Ah, what a shame." Bokuto sighed, a sly smile still on his face. "I was looking forward to hearing all the latest juicy details on the Miyagi Duo's tabloid-worthy relationship."

"Shut up." Tsukishima could feel his cheeks heating up.

Bokuto laughed. "Well, if makes you feel any better, you two are cute as hell, right, Akaashi?" He nudged Akaashi in the side, but he didn't respond. Bokuto frowned before he turned to his other side. "Right, Yacchan?"

Yachi nodded once, slowly but with conviction.

"Yachi-san!" Yamaguchi sighed. "Why do you have to embarrass us like that?"

"Because it's the truth, silly!" Yachi smiled. "But we can worry about that later, after we finish the job."

Everyone fell silent again after that, and frankly, Tsukishima was relieved for a change of subject, even if it was really just staying away from every subject entirely. This was all so new; if Bokuto kept asking questions, chances were that there eventually wouldn't be answers. And Tsukishima liked knowing what was going on himself before he told anyone else about it.

"I can't believe I actually did that," Yamaguchi whispered, "I thought I was going to be way too nervous to pull it off!"

"For what it's worth, you didn't seem nervous," Tsukishima whispered back, "Everything about it felt completely normal -" He stopped in his tracks. "Wait, no, that's not what I meant -"

"I know what you meant, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi giggled, looking down at the floor. “But really, did it actually sound like me? Like when I said it?”

“Yeah.” Tsukishima nodded. “It really did.”

“Good.” Yamaguchi let out a breath.

"Hey, you guys!" Yachi smiled, holding out her hand to the two of them, revealing two tiny devices that looked like bluetooth earbuds. "These are communication things. They'll let all of us talk together and know everything that's going on."

"Oh, thanks." Yamaguchi took one of them and put it in his ear, followed by Tsukishima.

"And I found these in the other room." Yachi took the pair of red and green masks off the desk and held it out to them. "They might be kind of important."

"Yeah, maybe." Yamaguchi chuckled, taking the mask and adjusting the elastic strap before he put it on. Tsukishima did the same, realizing how nice it felt when it was actual fabric and not watered-down cardboard.

“All right, it’s showtime!” The door flew open and Kuroo walked in with a grin, followed immediately by Kenma, who didn’t look like he had any opinion on what was going on. They were both dressed in identical all-black uniforms with electric blue stripes running up the sides of their bodies, and there were short black capes hanging down behind their backs.

“Kuroo-san,” Akaashi said, “Before you get all hyped up to go, at least let me tell you where you’ll be going.”

“Ah, I guess that’s kind of important.” Kuroo chuckled as he walked over to the space between Bokuto and Akaashi’s chairs and looked over at Akaashi’s computer. After Akaashi gestured at a few things on the screen, he handed two more of the communication devices to Kuroo, who nodded enthusiastically and gave one to Kenma before he walked over towards the window with a sly smile. “All right, team, let’s high-tail it out of here!”

“Wait, where are we going?” Yamaguchi asked. “I thought the exit was -”

“Do you really think we’re going that way?” Kuroo laughed. “It’s much more fun this way, trust me.” He turned around and opened the window with a quiet grunt, letting the evening breeze blow into the room. “Just follow my lead and you’ll be fine!”

And with that, he took a step back before running and jumping out of the window, disappearing into the sky. Kenma calmly followed, walking the distance to the window before climbing through it.

Everything was completely silent for a moment as Tsukishima contemplated what exactly he was about to do. He was fairly confident in his abilities up to this point, but this was the fiftieth floor of a skyscraper - what if something went wrong?

Before he could really make a move, Yamaguchi grabbed his hand and ran towards the window, leaving Tsukishima with no choice but to try and keep up. The window was more than big enough for the two of them to fit through at the same time, but it still felt like a tight fit as they fell out, letting gravity overtake them for a second before they both swooped back up at the same time. When they got back up to the level of the window, though, Kuroo and Kenma were nowhere to be found.

"Hey, up here!" Tsukishima's head whipped around to see Kuroo standing on top of the roof of the building, a grin on his face. "We're taking the high road, come on!"

Yamaguchi was the first one to shoot up to the roof, touching down delicately as his hair floated for a few seconds before settling back down. When Tsukishima landed, he squatted down on the rooftop before he stood up and started walking, following Kuroo and Kenma as they walked right along the center of it.

"Don't look down!" Kuroo called out, jumping over a small gap between two buildings. He held out his hand as Kenma jumped himself, and Kenma eagerly took it.

Once Tsukishima reached the gap, he realized that the distance could be surmounted easily with a slightly-flight-enhanced leap, and he reached the other side without any trouble. Yamaguchi did the same thing, adding a flip as he came across and landing on the other side like a gymnast after finishing their routine.

"What was that?" Tsukishima asked.

"Nothing!" Yamaguchi grinned, breaking out into a run. "Let's go, we can't fall behind them!"

"Right." Tsukishima nodded as he started running, leaping over every gap he came across with ease. The wind blew right at his face as he ran, which only hindered him slightly, and everywhere he looked, he could see the glow of city lights all around him. It was exhilarating being this high up at all, let alone running all the way up here.

He had to admit, he kind of liked it.

"All right, this is our stop!" Kuroo shouted a few minutes later, stopping in his tracks on the edge of another building as he looked down at the street below. He looked up at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi as they caught up. "You two can just wait here and watch the action, our bit won't take more than twenty minutes and then you can finish it off."

"What is it?" Yamaguchi asked, taking one step towards the edge.

"We don't know," Kenma said, "It's not our job to identify the weird things we end up fighting."

"Mm." Yamaguchi nodded, eyes wide as he stared down over the edge. "It's creepy."

"Yeah, that's par for the course around here." Kuroo sucked in a breath. "Weird monsters and stuff show up around twice a week."

"Wait, what?" Tsukishima ran over to the edge and looked down. There was something really tall on the ground standing up on two legs, and he couldn't even think of anything to compare it to, but it was definitely slimy.

"Okay, we're going down." Kuroo stood right on the edge of the roof. "Don't do anything stupid." He and Kennma fell over the edge, flying back up aways when they almost hit the ground before softly touching down.

“So…” Tsukishima sat down on the edge of the rooftop, letting his legs dangle over the edge. “How about this for a first date, huh?”

Yamaguchi’s cheeks reddened almost instantly. “Tsukki, do you have no shame?”

“I suppose I don't.” Tsukishima shrugged.

Yamaguchi laughed as he sat down, leaning his head on Tsukishima’s shoulder once he got settled. “Well, as far as first dates go, this isn't that bad.”

“Good.”

They sat there for a few seconds as the sun set, trying to ignore everything that was going on down on the ground. After all, they were all the way up here; there wasn’t anything to worry about. They probably should have at least been paying attention, but for some reason they didn’t, even though there was nothing better to do. The wind blew through their hair and across their faces, combining with the sunset to cast the slightest pink glow on their cheeks.

"You know, I was wondering." Tsukishima frowned, staring out into space. "How would you feel about starting to take over on jobs when we get back?" He knew it was going to happen anyway, but why not facilitate the process?

"What?" Yamaguchi's eyes widened. "You know I couldn't do that!"

"And you know you could." Tsukishima crossed his arms. "Sooner or later -" He paused, realizing that what he was about to say was a flat-out lie. "You're already more powerful than I am, it makes sense."

"I doubt it." Yamaguchi chuckled. "Even if I was, I'd be too worried about power exhaustion to do it well."

"That's where I come in." Tsukishima thought for a second about what to say before he just sighed. "If that ends up happening, I'm going to be responsible for finishing things up. You don't have to worry about that part."

"Oh." Yamaguchi smiled. "In that case, I don't know."

"Well, think about it," Tsukishima said, "I don't know either, but I think that could work out really well."

"Okay, I will."

"Hey, guys!" Yachi's voice crackled with static in their ears. "Am I coming through okay?"

"Yeah." Yamaguchi froze. "Wait, did you hear that?"

"Yeah, but I was the only one who did." There was another crinkle of static on Yachi's end that could only be interpreted as a giggle. "The three of us have a different feed than everyone else. Akaashi-san said it's hard to get all seven of us on the same page, but he's trying to set it up."

"Could you ask him to hold off on that for a little bit?" Tsukishima asked.

"He doubts he's going to get it done before we finish everything tonight, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Good." Tsukishima paused. "Okay, I need your opinion on something."

"Is it what you were talking about before?" Yachi asked.

"Yeah. Do you think he should do it?"

"Tsukki!" Yamaguchi whispered. "I said I don't know!"

"Well, a third-party perspective could help inform your decision," Tsukishima whispered back.

"Well, obviously, it'll take some time for the transition to happen, and I think it'll be kind of hard," Yachi said, "But I think it's a great idea, especially with the way things are going now."

"Really?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Yeah! If you keep your skills up, it'll work out fine -" Yachi stopped talking for a second, and there was an inaudible conversation on her end of the line before she came back on. "Sorry to interrupt all the sentimentality, but it looks like they're ready for you two to finish the job."

“Great!” Yamaguchi grinned. “We’ll be right down there.”

“Awesome!” There was another muffled conversation between Yachi and someone else before she came back on again. “They say you’ll know what to do.”

“Okay, cool.” Yamaguchi looked down over the edge of the roof, where the monster thing was pinned down to the ground by a cloudy black band of... something, but still struggling.

“Awesome!” There was a click and the static stopped as Yachi dropped out.

“So we’re doing this?” Tsukishima asked, standing up right on the edge of the rooftop.

“Yep!” Yamaguchi stretched his arms up above his head as he stood up.

“How about we make a grand entrance?” Tsukishima smirked as he looked back down at everything on the ground.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Yamaguchi said. “What did you have in mind?”

“There isn’t much to it, we just jump off.”

“Like I jumped through the window?”

“Yeah.”

“I can do that.” Yamaguchi smiled.

“Okay, we go on three.” Tsukishima didn’t know why he decided to close his eyes. Maybe it was just more exciting that way. “One... two...”

“Three!” There was a tug as Yamaguchi grabbed Tsukishima’s hand and jumped off, leaving Tsukishima with no other option but to jump off himself, falling faster than he would have liked. It felt like he was on a roller coaster, but scarier, like the car had come off the rails and he was just free-falling. But at the same time, it was exciting. His heart was racing the entire time, and he doubted it would stop for a while. He felt the cool air blast past his face as he fell, and he wondered when he should finally swoop back up again. He put on the brakes as the drab gray pavement came into view and got closer to his face and the seconds ticked by, soaring up in a wide arc at what could have been the last second.

There were people standing around the scene, filling up the streets, staring at him as he touched down with their phones held high above their heads. Their eyes were all wide, in awe of what was going on. And he couldn’t blame them; if he wasn’t directly a part of all this, he’d be staring just as intently.

"There you two are!" Kuroo turned around and grinned. "All you have to do is get this thing to stop squirming around and that's it."

"Got it." Tsukishima nodded, looking over at the monster. It looked gross, and it was jiggling around so fast that it only made it worse. The black band around its middle was obviously Kuroo's doing, but it looked like it could snap out of that at any second.

"I'll hold it in place!" There was a series of rushed footsteps as Yamaguchi ran up and stood right behind Tsukishima. "Then you can zap it down and we'll be done here!"

"Okay, thanks." Tsukishima took a few steps back and let Yamaguchi have a full, unobstructed view.

Yamaguchi put one hand out in front of him, grabbing his wrist with the other. He closed one eye, focusing all his attention on the monster in front of him. As soon as his hair started floating, the crowd let out a cheer, and he grinned and appeared to focus even harder.

The monster's movement started slowing down before it eventually stopped, leaving Tsukishima with a perfect opportunity to strike. He pointed one finger directly at the monster, right above the dark band of whatever Kuroo had used to tie it up. He closed his eyes, trying to gather the energy from inside of him to send through his nerves right into his finger. Once he found it, he sent it coursing through his arm, out through his finger right towards the monster. It let out a shriek before falling to the ground, motionless.

Was it really over that quickly?

There was a moment of complete silence before the crowd started cheering once again. There were camera flashes coming from every direction, and Tsukishima suspected that he was really only here for publicity and not public safety. But that was fine. All the ramen places in the area would have good business tonight from all these people.

“That was easy, huh?” Yamaguchi turned around and grinned. “I wouldn’t mind doing this every day.”

“How about you say that again when you actually try doing it?” Kuroo smirked from across the street, where he and Kenma were standing behind a tree. “It’s not bad now, but believe me, it gets worse when you have to keep it up for a while.”

“Um, I’ll keep that in mind.” Yamaguchi hesitantly nodded.

“So that’s it?” Tsukishima asked, “It doesn’t seem like much.”

“Yeah." Kuroo nodded. "Sorry it wasn't what you expected!"

Tsukishima shrugged.

"Midori-san!" Two teenage girls rushed up to Yamaguchi from their spot in the front of the crowd. "That was so cool!"

"Oh." Yamaguchi laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Thanks!"

The girls stared at him for a second, eyes wide and mouths open in tiny o’s, before they ran back into the crowd with a giggle.

“Well, you're quite the popular one, huh?” Tsukishima asked.

“Yeah, kinda.” Yamaguchi shrugged, looking over to where some of the other people in the crowd had ambushed Kuroo and Kenma with questions and whatever else they had in store. “They didn't even look at you!”

“I know, that's weird.”

“You worried about not being the best anymore?” Yamaguchi asked, a playful grin appearing on his face.

“Not particularly. You know I'm not really one for attention.”

Yamaguchi smiled, more sincere this time. “Yeah, I know.”

They took the next few minutes to cool down, exchanging a few words with whoever came up to talk to them. They weren’t anywhere near exhausted, like they were after every job back home, but they still felt the same energy they always did. Maybe it was just the situation.

But no matter how small it was, this was more important than either of them knew at the time. While everything changed a few days prior, they would both agree months later that this was when all the changes started to kick into gear.

And it took way too long for them to realize that they were more than ready for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on tumblr [@hanwritesstuff](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com) or [@violinist-tsukki](http://violinist-tsukki.tumblr.com) if you want to check me out. (especially my writing blog, I want it to be loved)


	10. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, the sappier notes are at the end, so just enjoy the chapter!

Two weeks passed before anything changed. Everything stayed completely but aggravatingly normal, with no sign of anything being different after training camp ended. Well, that wasn’t necessarily true. There were a few things that had undergone a bit of modification. 

Like the whole dating thing. That was kind of important. 

But that was something to talk about later. 

Two weeks after what was commonly known as the best make-out session ever - to this day, they still hadn’t done better - Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were on a completely normal job when the paradigm shift started.

"Um, Tsukki?" Yamaguchi asked, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah?"

"Could I..." Yamaguchi trailed off before he looked up again. "Could I try to, like, be in charge this time?"

"Uh, yeah, definitely." Tsukishima narrowed his eyes, not expecting anything like that. "Any particular reason why?"

"Not really." Yamaguchi shrugged. "I just wanted to see what it felt like."

"Then do it. I don't care." It may not have been what Tsukishima was expecting to hear, but he was more than willing to take a step back.

"Thank you!" Yamaguchi sent a wide grin his way before breaking out into a run.

"Hey, wait up!" Tsukishima started running himself, trying to keep up.

The job went great. That was pretty much all there was to it. They ended up getting back early enough to stop by Torono's greatest ice cream place before heading home - they made the executive decision to stay in costume and got to live in the lap of ice cream luxury for the few minutes they were there - and reviews skyrocketed the next day. They'd only been better once since then.

But the best part of it was that Yamaguchi seemed happier after a job than he'd been in a while, and that lasted for the next few weeks. Even as he mostly went back to his usual sidekick role - with a little less staying in the background, of course - there was an energetic glint in his eye whenever Tsukishima got the chance to look.

Not that Tsukishima went out of his way to do it. Definitely not.

Okay, maybe a little.

Alright, he  _ totally  _ found himself trying to look. How could he not? It was beautiful. 

 

***

 

A month later, the leaves on the trees were starting to change color as fall steadily approached. Every branch housed a sea of oranges, reds, yellows, and browns, almost falling off but not quite as summer tried to hold on.

It had already been six months since Tsukishima and Yamaguchi had taken over this job, but it felt like it had been years since they’d started. So much had happened, and the memories just kind of strung together into one long chain of action, tears, laughter, and way too many hugs to count. 

But now wasn't the time to reminisce. They had a job to do.

"So do we have a plan?" Tsukishima asked, eyes narrowed as he walked into the middle of a strangely deserted street. 

"No..." Yamaguchi frowned, looking up and down the street, not keeping his eyes focused on one place for more than one place at a time.

"Okay." Tsukishima looked around, trying to see if he could find the person behind whatever was going on here.

"But don't worry about it." Yamaguchi smiled, standing up the slightest bit taller as his hair started to float like it was prone to do. "I've got this."

"Okay." Tsukishima nodded slowly. There was an air of determination and confidence surrounding Yamaguchi entirely that he couldn't ignore even if he tried, so he just went with it. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with it - it was probably even better this way.

"Let's go!" Yamaguchi's smile turned into an almost-mischievous grin that shined in the light of the streetlights above his head. "I want to get this done so we can watch a movie when we get back."

"Is that a worthy enough cause for you?" Tsukishima smirked.

"Yes!" Yamaguchi laughed as he started walking down the street, slowly reaching over to intertwine Tsukishima's fingers with his own. "Come on, if we go down one of these streets, we might find the job we were supposed to be on."

 

***

 

When Tsukishima imagined what he'd be doing on his sixteenth birthday, he definitely saw himself out on a job that day. While his mom's strawberry shortcakes were definitely some of the most delicious he'd ever tasted, jobs were just more interesting, more exciting, and maybe just a bit more fun, at least on a good day.

But when he imagined what he'd be doing on his sixteenth birthday, he couldn't in his wildest dreams have thought of  _ this _ .

He was strapped tight to a wheel, the kind they'd use on game shows, and he could barely breathe. But even in the state of extreme discomfort he found himself in, he still glared at the person standing in front of him. It was a man, around his brother's age, who was dressed in an incredibly stupid getup that combined Tuxedo Mask and Derek Zoolander while making both even worse. 

Tsukishima, like always, wasn't taking any of this seriously.

"Why so pouty, Aka-kun?" The man asked with a frown. "Games are supposed to be fun, you know." He chuckled. "Well, maybe not for you at this exact moment, but they usually are."

"What do you want?" Tsukishima asked.

"What do  _ I  _ want?" The man let out a cackle, taking one step closer to the wheel. "I want to have a little fun." He took a step back, increasing the volume of his voice like he was an actor performing in a show for the gathering crowd. "Now, Aka-kun, have you ever heard of a little thing called Wheel of Fortune?"

"Not particularly fond of it myself, but yes." Tsukishima narrowed his eyes, unsure of what this guy was planning to do. What could he make out of something so simplistic?

"Good." The man grinned. "This is a little twist on the old classic, but it doesn't differ too much, so you'll be able to pick it up in no time at all." He pushed a button on a remote he was holding, sending the wheel into a slow spin and Tsukishima along with it. "Now, the wheel you're currently bound to has little notches along its edge, and the wheel is eventually going to stop in between two of those notches. And when it does, that marker at the top is going to send an electric current straight down to whatever part of your body happens to be there. It's simple."

Tsukishima didn't say anything. It was definitely a stupid idea to shock someone with electricity-based superpowers, since in theory it would just make them stronger, but who knew? Maybe this guy actually posed a legitimate threat, as unlikely as that sounded.

The wheel started to slow down, eventually coming to a stop when Tsukishima was facing sideways. He craned his neck to try to see the marker on top, which glowed bright red for a second before shooting a bright white ray of electricity straight down.

The ray hit Tsukishima's left side, right around the bottom of his ribcage, and he instantly knew that he'd underestimated what this guy was capable of. He clenched his teeth together tight as he tried to get over the pain, that stayed concentrated in that one spot but was intense enough for his entire body and probably more.

"Sharper than you expected, eh?" The man just pushed the button again, sending the wheel spinning the other way. "You may be able to get yourself out of this."

Tsukishima kept his eyes locked on the marker for as long as he could as he spun, trying to lean one way or the other to get the wheel to stop somewhere he wouldn't care about as much. Like right above either of his feet. But of course, that didn't work, and he ended up stopping with the marker pointing right at his head. He could feel the marker heating up, glowing bright even though he couldn't see it, and he was actually scared for the first time tonight that this would go a lot worse than he anticipated and he'd end up having the worst birthday ever. 

Something hit the side of the wheel with a tiny plink, which spun it just enough so the bright white beam hit Tsukishima's right shoulder instead of the top of his head. That still hurt a  _ lot _ , but it wasn't nearly as bad as what could have happened. Probably. 

He closed his eyes and grimaced, feeling like his shoulder and the left side of his stomach were both on fire. But even with all that, he felt something  _ else _ , something at the very back of his head that felt weird and mystical in a way. He cracked his eyes open only a tiny bit before an entirely familiar splotch of dark green appeared in the middle of his field of vision.

That only lasted for a second before he felt the wheel being lifted up and flung across the street like a frisbee, almost crushing a few people who had come to watch all this go down. When Tsukishima hit the ground, it felt like all his recently sustained injuries had gotten even worse. And he was still strapped to the wheel itself, so he couldn't move.

_ Sorry!  _ Yamaguchi's voice echoed loud and clear inside Tsukishima's head, almost catching him off guard.  _ I didn't mean to throw it that hard, promise! _

_ No, it's fine. _ Tsukishima thought back, closing his eyes.  _ Just do what you have to do. _

_ Okay! _

Tsukishima sighed, noticing that this whole telepathic communication thing was just as weird as it always was. It had started last month, and though he liked it quite a bit, he'd probably never get used to hearing Yamaguchi's sweet and silvery voice inside his head. 

He opened his eyes and stared up at the sky, trying to ignore both the state of great pain he was currently in and the sounds of the fight going on across the street. But though he could take his mind off the former to an extent, the latter was impossible to tune out, especially when he heard something that sounded suspiciously like a window breaking. 

He tried to lift his head a little bit, just to see what was going on. He couldn't see much, and he could only lift his head up for a few seconds, but he could definitely make out various objects sailing through the air, including what looked like giant chess pieces. Apparently this guy really wanted to play the most common and tropey games on the planet.

He brought his head back down again, listening to everything more intently. He could hear the pitter-patter of footsteps, the crash of glass breaking, the nervous chatter of people on the street, the distant sirens getting closer by the second. 

Just as the sirens started to get so close that they practically made his ears bleed, all the other sounds stopped. There was a conversation that he couldn't make out before the footsteps started again, and it sounded like they were getting closer.

"Hey!" Yamaguchi's head popped in against the backdrop of the night sky. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to throw the wheel that hard, I guess I was just kind of caught up in the heat of the moment."

"Did you finish the job?" Tsukishima asked.

"Yeah." Yamaguchi nodded. "It wasn't that hard, I just had to -"

"Hey, I'm all for hearing the story, but can you get me off this thing first?" Tsukishima asked. "I'm pretty sure both of my legs are asleep."

"Oh! Yeah." Yamaguchi giggled, putting his arms out in front of him as he closed his eyes. 

After a few seconds, Tsukishima could feel the ropes that had tightly bound him to the wheel starting to loosen, and he wiggled his fingers as soon as he got the chance. When he tried to sit up, the sideache from before returned full-force and he just lay down again. The job was technically over, there wasn't anything stopping him from just resting for a few seconds.

"Need a lift?" Yamaguchi laughed, holding his hand out. "Here, I'll pull you up."

Tsukishima looked up at him for a second, breathless though he didn’t know why. Something about this seemed weirdly nostalgic, like deja vu except somehow warmer.  He would have brushed it off as just being a stupid lovesick idiot, which he regrettably found himself prone to be more often than not, but this felt different in what was strangely the best kind of way. 

It hit him way later than it should have. 

The last time something like this had happened was two months ago, right before they’d left for Tokyo. The circumstances were eerily similar - Tsukishima had made some stupid mistake and now was on the ground pretty much unable to move because he was ridiculously sore, and then Yamaguchi ended up popping into his field of vision and just generally being worried about everything.

Except this time, he  _ wasn’t _ .

There was a flash of confidence in his eyes that didn’t go away, and the grin on his face was filled with energy. Since the last time this had happened, it seemed like he’d gotten a hundred times stronger, probably even more than that, and he looked entirely different but comfortingly familiar all at once. But at the same time, there was something lingering behind his smile, something melancholy that wasn’t there two months ago. It must have been the five power exhaustion incidents since then, some of which were horrible to just watch, let alone experience. But maybe that was part of what made him seem that much stronger in the first place.

"What's wrong?" Yamaguchi frowned. "If you can't -"

"No." Tsukishima took his hand and stood up shakily, trying to ignore the ever persistent pain in his side. "I'm fine."

Holy shit, he really was a stupid lovesick idiot.

"Okay." Yamaguchi looked up at the sky for a second before he hopped up into the air, floating only a little bit above the ground. "Let's go, there's something I wanted to show you on the way back."

"I already told you, you didn't have to go out of your way to get me a birthday present." Tsukishima sighed, getting a considerable distance into the air himself. "I don't need anything."

"How could I  _ not  _ get you a birthday present?" Yamaguchi giggled, rising higher and higher as the seconds went by. "I mean, I have to at least beat everyone who wished you a happy birthday on Twitter, right?"

"I guess, but that doesn't take much." Tsukishima shrugged as he stopped rising in height, leveling out before he started flying out in the general direction of home.

"What are you getting at?" Yamaguchi asked.

Tsukishima smirked. "I'll leave you to your own devices for that one."

Yamaguchi grinned. "Tsukki, I'll have you know that you still are and always will be the worst."

"Yeah, I know. I try."

They kept trying to make small talk for a while; the commute, as unusual as it was, was long, and there wasn't much else to do. It was definitely nice sometimes, but by now, it was almost a hassle, especially when they were already exhausted from the job itself. One time, they'd been able to just spend the night at Akiteru's apartment and then take the train back the next morning, which was incredibly relaxing. But of course, Akiteru was back home for the weekend, which unfortunately meant that that wasn't an option.

“Hey, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi said, looking over at Tsukishima with a tiny smile on his face as he reached out to grab his hand. “This is kind of boring, huh?”

"What is?" Tsukishima asked, eagerly taking it.

"Getting back like this." Yamaguchi shrugged. "I mean, it's exciting, but it gets kind of monotonous after a while, doesn't it?"

"I guess." Tsukishima narrowed his eyes. "What are you trying to get at?"

"Remember that job we were on in Tokyo?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Which one? There were two."

"I guess both." Yamaguchi grinned, looking straight ahead again. "Remember when we would run on top of all the buildings to get everywhere?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Tsukishima asked. "It's not like there are any buildings to run on top of out in the middle of nowhere."

"True." Yamaguchi picked up his speed the slightest bit, and the rush of wind in Tsukishima's ears only got louder as he tried to do the same. "But there's more to do in the middle of nowhere than you'd expect."

"Like what-"

"Going down!" Yamaguchi shouted, dropping in altitude all of a sudden, getting closer and closer to the ground with every passing moment, like he wanted to crash into it.

Tsukishima could feel his stomach drop faster than he was, like he was on a roller coaster, except this one had no rails, no seatbelts, no safety precautions whatsoever. "What the hell are you doing!?"

"Don't worry!" Yamaguchi laughed, swooping back up like he was attached to a parachute that had just opened. "This'll be fun!" He brought the two of them back down again, but slower this time, saving Tsukishima a heart attack in the process. They got lower and lower until they were flying over what looked like a small lake.

"I don't know what's so 'fun' about almost killing me, but -" Tsukishima was rudely interrupted by something cold and wet hitting his face as Yamaguchi only laughed harder. "Did you just splash me?"

"Maybe." Yamaguchi grinned.

Tsukishima reached down into the freezing cold lake water and splashed him right back. "Then this is payback."

Yamaguchi just kept laughing, a tinkly giggle that didn't stop echoing, as he tugged Tsukishima’s hand back up into the night sky. "Okay, I guess that's fair."

They kept flying up above the treetops, following the evenly-spaced lights on the highway that they knew would guide them home, but only barely. They definitely took some liberty along the way, whether it was racing along the highway itself, now deserted at almost midnight, or bounding on the branches of pine trees like they were a never ending road of trampolines. There wasn't a second where Yamaguchi stopped smiling, and Tsukishima had a sneaking suspicion that the same thing was true for him, as strange as that sounded. 

By the end, they were content without using the scenery at all, instead deciding to soar through the sky above it, under a flurry of stars that were bright enough to light up their faces in the darkness. And they didn't just resign to flying in a straight line either. They went forwards, backwards, in spirals around each other, and in a few huge loop-de-loops when they encountered a moment when they felt especially daring. As the minutes went by, they only went faster, feeling their cheeks and the tips of their ears redden from the wind pushing against them.

As soon as they were sure that there weren’t any cars around - why would there be? - they stayed around the highway for much longer, speeding right down the middle. If the dashed yellow line extended upward, it probably would have made a perfect line of symmetry between them. 

“This isn't bad, right?” Yamaguchi asked with a grin.

“Except for the part where you splashed me with freezing cold lake water, yeah.” Tsukishima shrugged.

“I wasn't the only one who splashed lake water into people’s faces, though.”

“I only did it because you did.”

“Fair enough.” Yamaguchi giggled. “But it's a good birthday present, right?”

“It's not something really stupid, so yes.”

“Good.”

The three-story condos that marked the entryway to Torono came into view on the edge of the horizon, some of the only relatively tall buildings in town. They were almost entirely dark, except for a light or two that was on behind closed curtains. Other than that, the streetlights were the only source of light anywhere, as numerous as they were.

There wasn’t anyone on the streets when they ended up touching down, on one of the streets between each other’s houses. It was always weird, landing again after spending so much time in the air, but this was that and more. A good thirty seconds went by before Tsukishima really touched down. He let his toes touch the ground but kept the rest of his body in the air for a while, simply because he just didn’t want to let go yet. He didn't want this to be over.

“What's wrong?” Yamaguchi looked up at him after a few seconds. “You're staying up there longer than usual.”

“No reason.” Tsukishima shrugged, lowering himself down a little, but not enough for gravity to take him over. He wasn't going to lose that battle yet.

“Okay.” Yamaguchi smiled. “Well, I should probably get home, it's late.”

“Yeah, me too.” 

Yamaguchi narrowed his eyes for a few seconds, but his smile stayed right the way it was. He looked like he had a plan, and he was about to put it into action.

If there was one thing that Tsukishima knew for sure, it was that if Yamaguchi’s mischievous side was coming out, things were about to get interesting.

Without any warning whatsoever, Yamaguchi grabbed the front of Tsukishima’s jacket and yanked him back down to the ground, pressing their lips together just as Tsukishima’s heels hit the pavement. It didn't last that long, maybe five seconds or so, but within that, it felt like an eternity. Yamaguchi leaned into it, and Tsukishima found himself doing the same thing, closing his eyes as his face heat up and probably turned a bright shade of red.

Yamaguchi pulled away just as quickly as he'd started, smiling as bright as ever. He looked fine, which made Tsukishima and his tendency to get immensely out of breath after this stuff extremely jealous.

_ I love you _ . In the silence of everything else, Yamaguchi’s voice was like thunder inside the confines of Tsukishima's head, but it was nice. It didn't seem to have any kind of limit.

Tsukishima still felt like he was about to faint, though.

_ I - I love you, too,  _ he thought back, glad that he didn't actually have to say it. That would have definitely made him overheat.

Yamaguchi grinned, giving him a quick hug before he turned around and started jogging down the street. “Bye!”

“Bye.” Tsukishima gave his traditional no-effort wave and started walking the other way.

As he walked down the two blocks to his house, he felt weird, almost in a daze, but it was a good kind of weird, and he knew exactly what it was.

Things had changed over the past two months, and he no longer found himself falling asleep all the time, though it definitely still happened once in a while. But for the most part, that had been replaced with this: the weird relaxed excitement in the pit of his stomach, the tiny spring in his step that hadn't been there before, the smile trying to break at the corners of his mouth. It was unusual, especially for him, but he's learned a long time ago to just go with it. 

After all, it was just another one of the many side effects of being a huge freaking dork.

The windows were dark when he got back to his house, and he was pretty sure that everyone else was asleep by now. It was past midnight, and his family had always been the type to get to bed early. After digging around for his key in the pocket of his jacket for a few seconds, he opened the door as slowly and as quietly as possible.

“Well, would you look who it is!” Akiteru was sitting on the couch, his face illuminated by the screen of his laptop.

“Why are you still up?” Tsukishima asked. “You didn't have to stay awake this late.”

“I'm not leaving until Sunday, so I don't need to wake up early, which means I can stay up as late as I want.” Akiteru crossed his arms. “And besides, why would I miss my little brother’s birthday?”

“It’s past midnight, you technically already did -”

“You know what, close enough!” Akiteru grinned. “So how'd it go? You look pretty happy.”

“It was fine.” Tsukishima wasn’t surprised that he could tell. There were two people who could actually read his constant stream of apathy, and the other one had kissed him five minutes ago.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No.” Tsukishima sat down on the other end of the couch.

“Okay, fine.” Akiteru chuckled, leaning down to pick something up the floor. “A certain someone told me to give this to you when you got back.”

“Who was it?” Tsukishima asked, taking the package with both hands. 

“You'll see.” Akiteru looked back down at his laptop. “I'll give you my present tomorrow, it's probably not nearly as good as this one.”

“Huh.”

“You like this job, don't you?” Akiteru asked. “I mean, it seems like you do.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Tsukishima shrugged.

“Well, that's good.” Akiteru sighed, leaning back against the back of the couch. “Because you're really lucky to be able to do it.” He paused for a second and smiled. “Just think about it. You just happened to be in the right place at the right time on some inconsequential day five years ago, and now you're here.”

“Are you jealous?” Tsukishima asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Of course!” Akiteru leaned over to punch him in the shoulder. “Have you not been paying attention?  _ Everyone _ is jealous of you.” He playfully rolled his eyes. “Especially now that your boyfriend’s gotten so popular.”

“Shut up.” Tsukishima crossed his arms, too tired to punch him back.

“I'm only giving you information, Kei, there's no need to be so hostile.” Akiteru laughed. 

“And I'm going to bed.” Tsukishima stood up and walked towards the hall that led to his bedroom, still carrying the package in both hands.

“Oh! One more thing.” Akiteru held up one finger and grinned. “Happy birthday.”

“...Thanks.” Tsukishima turned around and walked down the hall, taking off his jacket once he got into his room. He'd slept in the base outfit before, and he was just fine doing it again.

He flopped down onto the bed, holding the package up right in front of his face. It was wrapped in red paper and tied together with a gold ribbon. It was wrapped tight enough so he had a little trouble opening it, but it didn't take too long.

Inside was a small silver picture frame that shined in the moonlight streaming in from his window. There were red and green swirls on two of the opposite corners that spread out and formed a border around the entire frame that seemed to sparkle. 

But that was nothing compared to the picture that was inside. It was a picture of Tsukishima and Yamaguchi that looked like it was from that one magazine photo shoot they'd done in Tokyo two months ago. It was the rare shot where they'd both been smiling, and that might have been the reason that it wasn't included in the final cut. Tsukishima had been slightly disappointed when he picked up the magazine after practice one day and hadn't seen it in there, but it probably wasn't “edgy” enough to make it, whatever that meant.

But either way, he was glad he had it now. All in all, it was sweet, and it was a good-quality photo, and even though it looked kind of stupid, he didn't really care.

He turned the frame over in his hands and eventually decided to open the back, to see if there was a note or something behind the photo itself. When he opened it, the note he was looking for was just on the back of the photo itself, written in messy, rushed blue letters.

He took the picture out of the frame to see the note better. The letters were tiny, and they took up most of the space on the back of the picture. But he recognized the handwriting instantly. As if he didn't already know.

He narrowed his eyes and read the note, slowly to get everything to sink in.

 

_ Happy Birthday, Tsukki! _

_ Since your birthday happens to be on a Friday this year, chances are I already said that a few minutes ago, but that doesn't matter, right? _

_ Anyway, I know we both agree that you're the sappy one out of the two of us, but here goes nothing. I'm probably not going to be really good at this, but I'm going to try. _

_ It’s been six months or so since we started all this, believe it or not. I know it started out pretty rough, but I've loved every step of the way and it's probably only going to get better from here. This has been better than I ever could have imagined, and I've been preparing for this for pretty much my entire life, so it’s been a nice surprise the whole time. _

_ So basically, I just want to say thank you. I've probably said this a thousand times by now, but you've just always been there for me, no matter what. And considering all the weird stuff I get myself into, that's saying a lot. I don’t know exactly how you do it, but I guess that’s just a secret of yours, so I won’t question it.  _

_ I’m definitely running out of space by now, but there’s a few other things I want to say before I end this thing off, so I’ll make it quick.  _

_ First, I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am right now without you. Second, I love you. A lot. But you probably already knew that. And third, it’s been a wild ride, but I’ve loved every bit of it. _

_ Happy birthday! _

__ -Tadashi _ _

 

 

Right after he finished reading it, Tsukishima had to stop for a second to take it all in before reading it a second time. And a third. Before he could get carried away - like he wasn’t there already - he turned it back over and stared at the photo itself for about thirty seconds before putting it back in the frame. The entire thing looked nice together. 

He stood up and put the frame on top of his dresser before stopping to look in the mirror. Thanks to the uniform, he still looked pretty sleek, but he couldn’t deny that his hair was a mess. Not to mention he looked exhausted. Even in the darkness of the room, the dark circles under his eyes were still fairly prominent, and he felt like he was going to just crumple over at any moment. When he took his shirt off sometime the next morning, he was sure he’d find two large and ugly bruises on his shoulder and his left side, since they were still pretty sore. His cheeks were still pretty red, just as he thought they’d be, and he found himself almost out of breath.

But as he leaned back onto his bed and closed his eyes, he realized that he wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo. Okay, so I said in the notes of I Like that this was going to be really heartfelt, and I’m not going to lie, this is pretty much exactly that. If you need a measure of what "really heartfelt" means, I'm crying right now.
> 
> I started this AU on June 21st, 2015, in a long-since-filled notebook on a plane trip to San Francisco. The first scene I wrote was the scene in Metamorphosis chapter 3 where Daichi and Suga find Tsukki and Yamaguchi outside the gym after practice, and it's changed so much since then. Metamorphosis was the first Haikyuu!! fic I ever wrote, and the AU that stemmed from it filled up my entire life for the whole 245 days from when I started it up until today.
> 
> So at long last, I’m finally going to put it away for a little while. I’m going to keep up the side stories once in a while, and I’m planning on writing another one in a few months or so, but think of it as the season finale, not the whole series finale. There’s going to be a hiatus, but in the meantime, I’ll be making a bunch of new stuff that I’m pretty sure you guys are going to enjoy! (I have another tsukyam AU I’m thinking of where Yamaguchi takes the lead in the role of a certain anime heroine who can do no wrong, but I’ll leave you to your own devices as for guessing what that could be) Also, I'm going to be participating in Akisae Week in two weeks! (You can find the tumblr [here](http://akisaeweek.tumblr.com), which I'm co-running!)
> 
> But before saying goodbye to MitAoSI-verse, there are a few things I want to say:
> 
> Thank all of you so much for sticking with me, liking all my tumblr posts (even if you didn’t reblog them), giving me a couple hits to my name, and most of all giving me so much love over the past nine months! You are all super sweet, and I honestly couldn’t have done it without you! 
> 
> As for specific people I want to thank, I’d like to thank Sarah, Sho, and Lyss, my betas over the course of this project, you guys are absolutely phenomenal and I’m super glad for your help. Other thanks go to Vivian and Sara, for being supportive af and some of the best friends I've ever had, to Jessie, for being so freaking enthusiastic all the time, and to my other super sweet nerd friends, Natalia, Chrissy, and Irene, who are just really cool people in general!
> 
> And here at the end, I’d like to give a really huge thank you and an Internet bear hug to Erin! Thank you sososososo much for all your amazing comments! After posting every chapter, I’d always wait for that automated email with all the nice things you’d end up saying, and that made me so happy and it made some of this entire thing worth it.
> 
> Well, that's all, folks!
> 
> It’s been a wild ride, but I’ve loved every bit of it.
> 
> (If you want me to see anything, I'm [@hanwritesstuff](http://hanwritesstuff.tumblr.com) on tumblr and post anything about this fic with #mitaosi and I will see it and cry)


End file.
